Wind Beneath My Wings
by Galadriel1010
Summary: An old Doctor Who enemy lands in Cardiff and brings someone from Jack's past along for the ride. Can they protect the Earth without his help? Not crossover, just nicked ideas.
1. Chapter 1

She gazed into his eyes as he held her suspended. She knew that everyone was watching them, and the smile in his eyes, although he kept is off his face, told her that he knew it too. He pulled her upright and set her back on her feet and allowed the happiness to show properly. It was like the sun coming out; it was nearly midnight, but when he smiled it was like the sun at noon, so bright, so warm, so happy. She smiled back at him in response, and he twirled her for a curtsey as their audience started to applaud. As the next song started up, she indicated with a shake of her head that she didn't want to dance again and he led her off into the crowd, towards the fence.

As they got out of the main crowd, Jack let Lucy go ahead of him. She walked backwards, watching him and laughing all the way, until her back met the fence. She braced herself on it and kept smiling, even as he kissed her so expertly that her knees went weak and she was left breathless. "Ten. Nine. Eight…", she turned round in his arms and leaned against his chest as they gazed out across the bay, their voices joined with the crowd around them as they all flocked towards the fence, "Five. Four. Three. Two. One. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!"

Someone handed them both champagne glasses and they turned back to smile at each other, "To the end of one beautiful year."

"And the start of a new one, and a beautiful new millennium." Lucy smiled as she leant up to kiss him again.

* * *

Jack jogged into the hub, still buzzing from his night with Lucy, combined with the adrenaline of the earlier run. He'd had to dash off to avoid disappointing Lucy, he'd promised himself a normal life outside Torchwood for once, and so had left the others to finish up. They'd rib him a bit for it, but they understood; two hundred years alone was a long time.

Lucy didn't know how old he was, or why he was in Cardiff, or even his real name. Even Jack could barely remember the last one, and he was hazy on the figures for the first, but he knew the answer to the second one without having to think about it. He was waiting. Cardiff was situated on a rift in time and space, and someday the person he was waiting for would return here to recharge his machine. Unfortunately, the rift also let aliens and creatures from other times through, and he and the rest of the Torchwood team spent their lives trying to stop things from wreaking havoc when they arrived. Lucy didn't know why he kept having to drop things at a moment's notice, or why he sometimes came home so late at night that it was early in the morning, or not at all sometimes. She just accepted that his job was top secret and enjoyed the time she spent with him. He couldn't tell her the truth, couldn't face seeing her life consumed by the fear that consumed him.

Tonight, the Hub was unusually quiet. There should have been someone around, he'd thought that the attack would take a lot of clearing up, but no one responded to his calls. Suddenly he saw why, lying on the ground was Hannah, one of the members of the team, close by was Joe, and their leader, Alex Hopkins, sitting on the steps, holding a gun… "Alex?". Alex looked up, "Jack! Just in time." Jack bent to check on Hannah, but he already knew what he would find. "Alex what happened? Who did this?" A pause "Me". Checking on Joe, Jack couldn't believe what he was hearing, "What? Why?"

Alex turned the gun over and over in his hands, slowly, as if he couldn't take his eyes off it. "We got it wrong, Jack. We thought we could control the stuff we found. And what's it brought us? So much death." Jack stood again, faced Alex, "What happened to them?". He continued as if he hadn't heard, which maybe he hadn't. "It's good you're here. Always did have great timing. This place, it's yours. Torchwood Three, my gift to you, Jack, for a century of service as field operative. Give this place a purpose. Before it's too late. Please." Jack didn't understand, knew it was because he didn't want to believe that he knew what would happen. "Alex, listen, it's gonna be okay."

Alex almost laughed, the idea was implausible, "No. It's not. It's really not. I looked inside. It showed me what's coming. They were mercy killings. It was the kindest thing I could do. So none of us see the storm. I'm sorry I can't do the same for you. 21st century, Jack. Everything's gonna change. And we're not ready." He raised the gun to his forehead, and didn't hear Jack's cry of shock and loss".

* * *

It was nearly eight o'clock in the morning. He'd been hoping to be home hours and hours ago, but he knew he couldn't go home now. He's put Alex's body, and those of the rest of the team, in the deep freeze. He couldn't find the strength to concoct a cover story for them, that had always been Joe's strong point. He realised suddenly that he was crying, not that he was surprised. Even after so many years, so many losses, it still hurt, always hurt. He picked up the phone and dialled their apartment, after a few rings Lucy answered it, her voice almost muddy from sleep, "Happy New Year, who's calling at this time of the morning?"

"Lucy, it's me…". She cut across him, "God, Jack, where are you? You said you'd be back hours ago, are you still at work?"

"Yeah, I'm at work. I can't come home." He carried on through her attempted interruption, "Not now, not ever. Lucy, we lost, no, I lost… everyone, last night, they're all dead. Everyone I worked with. It's just me, and I can't lose you too, not like this. I have to go, to keep you safe. I'm sorry." He paused, unable to keep going."

"Jack, if you go now, you'll lose me anyway". Typical Lucy, applying logic in a situation like this.

"I know, I have to make a clean break, all in one go, everyone. I love you so much, look after yourself." He hung up before she could speak again, and gave way to the agony and the tears.


	2. Chapter 2

Jack lay awake and watched the moonlight casting shadows on the wall through the leaves of the tree outside the window. Beside him, Ianto's gentle breathing told him that the younger man was sleeping peacefully, oblivious to Jack's confusion and torment; just the way Jack wanted it. He didn't want Ianto to see him like this, because he knew he would blame himself and it was about as far from being his fault as it was possible to be.

They were at Ianto's house, in Ianto's bed, and Jack knew he would still be there when the dawn broke and woke Ianto in about three hours; that was what had him rattled. Sharing someone else's bed was unusual, he was normally far too busy to think about dating or even one-night- stands, but staying until the morning was even more unusual, he hadn't done it at all this millennium. His thoughts, much though he tried to resist, strayed down that tortuous and painful route. He remembered the last time with Lucy, lying awake late into the night, not talking because they didn't need to, not thinking about the future, concentrating on the present. He wished now that he'd thought of the future more, if he had, they would never have got that far.

Ianto stirred in his sleep, shifted slightly so that his cheek rested on Jack's chest, Jack instinctively shifted his grip, laying a gentle kiss on the top of his head. It was stupid, very stupid; they said that love was blind, and in this case it seemed to be blind to common sense. Relationships with colleagues were always a bad idea, he knew that from experience, and they were especially dangerous when you worked for a secret organisation with an average age, Jack excluded, of under thirty, so much could go wrong. Sudden fear gripped him, as the danger that Ianto faced everyday reared its treacherous head again; why did people strive for immortality when it hurt so much?

He looked down at Ianto again and almost envied him the peace, but not quite. He deserved it; for months after Lisa, he'd fought with nightmares every night, not sleeping properly or even at all some nights, trying to keep the nightmares at bay. His sleep recently had been calm, undisturbed, and Jack knew that it was because of him, was glad that he'd been able to do something.

His lover had come out of his shell a lot; there were fewer secrets around the hub now, and the whole atmosphere was a lot better for it. He knew that Tosh and Owen had been taking Ianto out in the evenings, trying to get him to open up more, and Gwen was a shoulder for him to lean on, with an almost overdeveloped mothering instinct, and Jack… He'd finally admitted his feelings to himself, moved on from the fear, not completely, but enough to be able to support Ianto in the way he really needed it.

The incident, which had threatened to divide them completely, had brought them all closer together. He had learned after Suzy that he needed to watch his team, Ianto had showed him that he needed to know them, whatever the risks.

He woke four hours later to find Ianto setting a mug of coffee on the bedside table for him. Ianto had evidently got up, closed the curtains and made the drinks without waking him; he'd put on a pair of black jogging bottoms, but his hair was still all over the place and he hadn't shaved yet, so he probably hadn't been up long.

"Sorry to wake you, it seemed a shame, but we'll need to get moving soon." He apologised, his welsh lilt soothing and warming Jack as he sat up to drink the coffee.

"Thanks Ianto, I really don't know what I'd do without you." His tone was jocular, but he wasn't joking, he'd be lost without Ianto's organisational skills and his love. He took the younger man's hand, let him set down his tea and then pulled him back down to the bed and kissed him. As Ianto curled up against him he grumbled, "I don't know why I always let you do this, every morning, we'll be late one of these days…", but they both knew he didn't mean it; they woke up early, just so they could share these moments together.

All thoughts of Lucy from the previous night had been driven from Jack's mind, but it would be a long time before he realised that. Right now it was just him and Ianto, and that was all that mattered. In a couple of hours they would have to be at the hub, ready to greet whatever decided to invade, crash land or pay a flying visit today, personal lives set aside for professionalism for God alone knew how long. If they were lucky, they'd either get to come back here or get the hub to themselves tonight; if they were busy, it could be days until they were alone together and with enough energy to enjoy each other's company again.


	3. Chapter 3

Ianto glanced at the clock, it was five o'clock and they were just returning from a sighting of a mermaid on the coast. They got quite a lot of these, as the police thought that they were the ones to deal with them, and Jack usually sent Owen and Gwen out to investigate an usually find nothing. Today had been such a nice day though that he'd suggested that they all went and enjoyed the day out, he'd even got their usual pizza place to deliver to the beach, which had been a bit hairy when the mermaid turned out to be real. Jack had had quite a long discussion with her, and had found out quite a lot, then politely asked her if she wouldn't mind moving a bit further down the coast to a less visited area. He'd told the others that he'd write up the report and that they could head home or to the pub or whatever they wanted. Gwen, Owen and Tosh had arranged to meet Rhys and his best friend; someone called Banana, at a local bar, and had tried to get Ianto to come along. He'd declined, partly because of Jack's ineptitude at filing, mainly because he was looking forwards to another evening with him.

Tosh was pulling on her coat by the door; he went and helped her into it, then locked the door of the TI office behind her and went back into the hub. The water cast cool green reflections around the underground base, and Myfanwy stretched lazily and took off above his head. As far as he was concerned this was bliss. He leant on the railing and looked across to Jack's office, where he could see his lover leaning back in his chair with his feet on the desk, a pad of paper and a pen in his hands. Jack looked up, caught his eye, and smiled, so Ianto signalled an offer of coffee; Jack looked more than happy to accept.

He hummed as he worked the coffee machine, a traditional tune about two lovers separated by the press gangs and then reunited after seven years. He always wondered why she didn't recognise the man she loved, but it was a folk song, so odd stuff was allowed to happen. One of his favourite songs was about two poachers who had the keepers' dogs set on them but were rescued by the king of the fairies. He would have regarded it as complete fantasy, were it not for the fact that he worked in an underground base, complete with pterodactyl, where he hunted aliens for a living.

He carried the two coffees carefully up to Jack's office, navigating his way around Owen's ever expanding pile of "stuff", which he refused to allow Ianto to touch, and the basketball, which seemed to have gained a life of its own since the incident with the Autons. Truth be told, he was a little worried about both of them, as they both moved independently, but they seemed fairly harmless at the moment. He'd get onto Owen about them both in the morning though. As he headed up the stairs, the ball started bouncing, then managed a perfect shot through the hoop on the wall, Ianto carefully ignored it.

Jack looked up as Ianto appeared in the doorway, coffee mugs in his hands. He took the one offered to him and smiled his most dazzling smile at the young man. Ianto grinned back in response, and nodded in the direction of a pile of discarded pieces of paper, "Having fun are we, sir?"

Jack stuck his tongue out in response to his teasing, "Of course, reports are my idea of a perfect evening."

A second grin, more seductive this time, greeted this comment, "I can think of better things to do on a night like this."

Jack almost groaned, "I'll bet you can, but right now I need to get this report done. Who'd think it could be so hard to write about one mermaid who didn't try to kill any of us? No matter what I say it comes across as boring." He handed his current attempt across to Ianto to look at, "Not that I'm complaining mind, I'd take a day like this over that one last week anyday."

Ianto nodded in agreement, the day Jack was talking about had been more like three, as he, Jack and Tosh had gone the three days with only a couple of hours of sleep each due to a piece of alien technology which had landed and threatened to blow up Cardiff, coupled with a rogue blowfish running an extra-terrestrial drug smuggling circle, which had kept Owen and Gwen busy, and the usual chaos of weevils running round the city and intergalactic tourists wanting to visit the pyramids or whatever they thought was in Cardiff this week. The TI office may have been a cover for Torchwood, but some days the institute itself felt like a TI office.

He scanned the document Jack had given him and glanced up at Jack, "I think you're going to have to face facts Jack, today was blissfully, wonderfully dull. That'll do, just get it typed up and then I can file it properly." Jack's responding look of misery and defiance was pure comedy. Ianto chuckled as he settled into Jack's lap and turned the computer screen so that he could see to type properly. Jack tried to get him to put the report down, even resorting to covering his eyes. Ianto just laughed, "Touch typing is my speciality, remember? I'm very good at doing thinks by touch alone, comes in very useful when you have a boyfriend who finds it amusing to cover your eyes at the most inappropriate moments."

Jack turned him round and kissed him, ensuring that the report lay forgotten for quite a long time.


	4. Chapter 4

Thanks so much to my reviewers, I'm glad you're enjoying it. bbmcowgirl: yeah, we'd love them to have another quiet, safe night, but it wouldn't be Torchwood then, would it?

* * *

They gazed into each other's eyes, lying side by side on Jack's narrow bed; they'd considered going back to Ianto's, but didn't seem to have got that far. Jack reclaimed his mouth for a soft, gentle kiss, so unlike the fiery passionate ones they'd shared only a few minutes ago, but still the most beautiful thing in his life, along with the man in his arms. The hub was as close to silent as it ever got; the only sounds coming from the rippling water in the base, Myfanwy's lazy wing strokes, the quiet bleeping of various measuring devices, and the almost metallic bumps of the blasted basketball. Jack raised his head slightly, as though listening intently to something, "I'm going to have to get an expert in to look at that ball."

"Hey," Ianto grinned, "I'm the only expert allowed to look at your balls." It was corny, it was dirty, but right that moment, it was hilarious. Jack swung himself out of bed and went to the cupboard, "Time for wine!" he laughed, getting two glasses and the bottle and coming back to the bed. Ianto sat up and accepted a glass, then leant forwards so Jack could settle in behind him. They rested in the quiet warmth of their love, and savoured the calm and the very, very good wine.

"This isn't terrestrial, is it?" Ianto asked, breaking their silence.

"Sort of," Jack smiled, holding the glass up to the light to examine the slightly purple colour of the wine, "It's from earth, but this grape won't be bred for nearly two hundred years. Sometimes, having a time-travelling best friend can be useful." Ianto knew he was talking about the infamous Doctor, who had only recently been removed form Torchwood's most wanted list. It had taken the technological genius of Tosh to extricate him without bringing the whole system down.

Speaking of systems, a beeping had started somewhere off in the hub. To the untrained ear it was just another annoying little noise, but for Jack and Ianto, it meant the one thing that Torchwood was really, really good at. Trouble.

They glanced at each other, then Ianto pulled on a dressing gown to go and investigate it, whilst Jack got dressed properly. It might not have been a long day yesterday, but today was an early start, and probably another late finish.

He got to his workstation and flicked on the screen, then navigated his way in through three security levels to get to the information on the alert. This was the one that monitored phone calls to the emergency services and the main local radio stations, picking up key phrases. He sometimes wondered why Torchwood didn't have its own emergency line, considering that it was a secret organisation; a surprising number of people had called the emergency services and asked to be put through to Torchwood in the last year. The transcript of the call made for worrying reading, even for someone who'd seen as much worrying stuff as Ianto. It was a hysterical woman, claiming she'd just been attacked by someone posing as a dummy in a shop window. She said they had walked straight out of the display, breaking the glass on top of her and then shooting at her. She had run and been picked up by a taxi, which she was currently in the back of, on her way to A and E.

It was an auton, in the centre of Cardiff, not far from Gwen's apartment, but a good way from the hub. He sent the information to the printer and a condensed version to the other three members of their team, then ran to Jack's room, where he got dressed and filled Jack in. His partner looked concerned, and climbed the ladder to his office, where he navigated his way to the highest level of security clearance. As Ianto emerged from the bunker beneath the office, he caught the keys that Jack threw to him and dashed to the SUV. The vehicle was always kitted out for almost any eventuality, even pterodactyls these days, and he knew that Jack would be waiting for him in Roald Dahl Plass.

* * *

Hope you enjoyed that, sort of a filler to go from the fluffiness to the bit where things start trying to kill them. Hopefully the next chapter will go up tomorrow :)


	5. Chapter 5

Ianto pulled up next to Jack, who opened the back door to throw a bag in there, then got into the front and strapped himself in as Ianto took off again. For once, it wasn't raining. Ianto had always wondered why aliens always seemed to invade Cardiff when the weather was dreadful, but this one had chosen a wonderful night. If it weren't for the light pollution, they would have been able to see the stars, and a light breeze was stirring the branches of the trees and moving some bits of litter across the street. Of course, as far as Torchwood were concerned, this was bad weather, as it meant that people were out and about on the streets even this late at night.

He swerved around a group of late night revellers who had had slightly too much to drink to be able to remember the green cross code and thought that it would be intelligent to cross in front of the SUV. Its brooding presence seemed to deter them slightly, but not enough that they didn't get a one-fingered salute from one of them as they passed.

"Tosser." muttered Jack, calling up the location of the attack on his PDA. "Left down here Ianto, and then we hit a pedestrian area and we'll have to walk." He scowled, less than amused at the constraints the modern life placed upon Torchwood, "Tosh and Owen have met up and are about five minutes away, Gwen's got the plod mobilised and got the area cleared and cordoned off… ah, there we are." He said, as a police cordon came into view around the corner. Ianto pulled the SUV up to the pavement and got out, heading towards the cordon before Jack, who had stopped to get his bag. He glanced back towards his boyfriend, who was doing his trademark "hero thing", towards the police and tried to conceal a smirk. Jack really had no idea he did it, despite the obvious effect on everyone around him.

"Torchwood." He announced, flashing his security clearance at the policeman nearest to him, "Him too," indicating Jack with a thumb as the older man bore down on them, "has Gwen arrived already?" The young constable nodded and stepped aside, holding the cordon up for Ianto and Jack to pass through. Gwen was a bit further in, talking to an officer who seemed to be in charge of the police side of things. He certainly didn't look pleased to have Gwen telling him what to do.

"Keep everyone out of here, that's civilians, police, fire brigade, everyone, unless we tell you otherwise. This thing is dangerous. If any more are seen anywhere, do the same, and tell us immediately. OK?" He nodded his assent glumly, but Gwen had already turned and was hurrying towards Jack and Ianto. "I've seen it, Jack. It's gone back to its display, standing there with exactly the same pose as it had before. It activated, and then deactivated, what do we do now? We can't just leave it there, and we can't keep the centre of Cardiff cordoned off." She silenced his next inevitable comment with a glare, "Jack, there's people's livelihoods at stake here, we've got to worry about that as well, being alive's not worth much if you haven't got a life to live."

"Speaking of which," Ianto interrupted, "any casualties? We've heard the report form the girl, but I didn't have time to check if any other reports had come in."

"None, everyone else ran when it went for her, and she managed to get away. No one saw it leave that street, so I suspect that it activated, did what came naturally to it, then found it was alone and deactivated to wait for further orders or something. Tosh'll be able to confirm when she gets her hands on the CCTV." They were now walking towards the far end of the street, where it met the one where the auton had been seen. The signs of a rapid exit could be seen, although to the untrained eye they were little different from the usual detritus of a night out in Cardiff. There were indications though, more forlorn shoes and handbags, a phone chiming incessantly.

Ianto bent to pick it up and answered it, "Hello… No, this isn't Kathy… Yes, I'm sure it's not Kathy… No, she's not here, she left her phone behind… No I have no idea whether she and Dave did whatever it is you're inferring. You can tell her when you see her that her phone is in the care of the police. Good night, and drink a pint of water before you go to bed… No, I'm happily spoken for, thanks for asking… No, oh for God's sake!" He cut the caller off, mid sentence by the sounds of things, and chuckled, "Ah to be young and innocent. Well, not that innocent actually, and not that young." He signalled to the end of the street and the same young constable who had let them in came running, "Thank you, Davies, if a woman rings back on that, tell her to drink a pint of water and go to bed." Davies walked back to the end of the street, shooting puzzled glances over his shoulder at them.

Tosh and Owen were by now approaching from the far end of the street, towards the window that the auton had emerged from. This one was easy to identify, partly because the detritus and scorch marks were centred around here, partly because the streetlight glinted off the glass on the floor. Gwen, Ianto and Jack moved forwards down the far side of the street from it and met the other two opposite from it. As Gwen had said, it seemed to be peaceful at the moment, which was the best way to have an auton. They were easier to deal with that way.

"Right. Tosh, I want you to scan for the control frequency; see if you can track down where it's coming from. Maybe we'll have more luck this time. Gwen, see if you can arrange with the police and get a cover story sorted, terrorism or something. Ianto, stand there and look good; Owen, likewise. Actually, no, the pair of you: go and find me the cheapest, nastiest bottle of vodka you can find. All will become clear." He assured them, in response to Owen's sceptical looks. Ianto knew Jack well enough to just go with the flow, the Captain would either explain what he needed the vodka for or just down the whole bottle. Either way, the results would probably be fairly spectacular.


	6. Chapter 6

Owen hurried away from the team, muttering under his breath, "Nutters, the lot of us! One of these days I'm going to wake up and find it's all a dream. Possibly a nightmare. Vodka. Why the hell does he want vodka?" He passed a Tesco and darted inside, making his way to the aisle at the far end of the store. He grabbed two bottles of something nasty, cheap and blue and made his way straight back to the door; there was no one else left in the shop to pay even if he'd been inclined to do so.

He got back to the others to find that Ianto had got there before him, also with two bottles, but these were clear. Jack was in the process of not explaining what he was doing.

"Excellent work guys, just what the Captain ordered. Not the Doctor, he'd use rum. Anyway, what we need now is a big bucket or two. Ah-ha," he bent and pulled two metal buckets from the bag he'd brought with him, "now isn't that convenient. Now, vodka, blue, that's interesting, should make pretty patterns. Right, I suggest you lot clear off because what I am making here is a fairly vicious solvent, but with any luck it'll activate it and then it'll try to shoot us, which would be mildly annoying for me but I'm not having you lot in its sights if and when it goes mad."

"Goes mad?" Gwen asked incredulously, when Jack finally paused for breath.

"Yeah, well it'll be dissolving, which isn't likely to please it, don't ya think? Now scoot, I'll join you as soon as I can. Just wait there for me, OK, I'll tell you when it's dealt with." He pulled two tubes of purple crystals from his pocket and shooed them off towards the corner.

"Promise you'll tell us what the hell you're up to once it's over? I hate feeling left out." Owen grumbled at him.

"Sure thing kids." Jack flashed his matinee idol, 100 megawatt grin at them and, as always, something inside Ianto shifted and he felt calmer, even though he knew his pulse had sped up. He nodded at Jack as he, Owen, Gwen and Tosh made their way around the corner to wait for Jack.

* * *

"It's the waiting I hate. I mean, I know he just wants to protect us, and it does make sense for him to take the risks, but it still doesn't feel right." Tosh glanced back towards Jack and Ianto put a hand on her shoulder to steer her out of sight and into safety. "How do you cope Ianto? Doesn't it worry you?" She looked up at him, confusion and sympathy in her elfin eyes.

"Yeah, I worry, but I know he'll always come back, always. He's like a bad penny, no getting rid of him once he's got hold of you." He smiled fondly; lost in thoughts of the man he loved, and didn't notice the look that Owen and Gwen exchanged. Not that he'd failed to notice it on at least some of the many times in the past, he knew they found it sweet and slightly worrying, but ultimately it didn't matter. Not yet, anyway.

"Yeah, well," Muttered Owen, moaning again, but good naturedly, as always, they all trusted Jack with their lives every day and knew they could count on him, " I wish he'd hurry…" His next words were drowned out by an explosion, complete with fireball that shot up into the sky and reflected off every plate-glass window in the street. They could feel the heat, and hear glass tinkling, but there was no sign of Jack.

Every part of Ianto wanted to run out to find him, but he knew that he couldn't. He put a hand on Gwen's shoulder as she started towards the corner, "He told us to wait, he'll have it under control." He glanced up at the reflected glow of firelight, "Well, probably anyway."

She nodded at him and he dropped his hand, and then tried to work out what was happening from the reflection in the window across from them. It wasn't easy, but as far as he could tell nothing was moving. No, wait, there was something, a dark shape was getting up and walking towards them? He couldn't tell properly, but he had a feeling that it was Jack. Still…

Just in case, he drew his gun and motioned the others to do the same. His pulse was really racing now, part fear of what would come round the corner, part adrenaline. He remembered the days when he'd stayed at the hub, before he came to understand the thrill of the adrenaline rush. Back then, he hadn't wanted to know what it was like, knew that anyone who did go out got hooked on it. He'd known that if it hadn't been for Lisa, he would have been able to walk away from Torchwood, but now it was impossible. Once you'd experienced it properly, it got its claws into you and refused to let go, much like the man approaching them round the corner.

Gwen was the first to react, holstering her gun and running forwards to hug him. Ianto followed close behind her and grinned as he saw the look of confusion in his eyes, "Weren't you expecting that one?" He asked innocently.

Jack laughed, "In a word, no. I used johntium bromide; mixed with vodka it forms a salt solution in which a precipitation reacting can take place with the plastic of the mannequin, producing johntium chloride and bromoethane. It was an exothermic reaction though, which activated it, as expected and got it to walk out of the window towards me. That all went according to plan. What I wasn't expecting was the bit where it tried to shoot me, well, succeeded I guess, and set itself on fire. Who knew?"

"Well not you, for starters." Owen supplied, "Anything I should look at? Cuts, bruises, headaches?" Jack shook his head and gestured towards the end of the street. They stood in the middle of the junction and gazed at the fire in front of the window, which was now dying down. The fire, fortunately, seemed to have gone straight upwards, rather than out, and it was the glass of a nearby phone box that they had heard breaking, rather than a shop window.

"Shame." Gwen said, and they stared at her in confusion, "I really liked that dress." Jack grinned and turned back to the fire, giving Ianto's hand a squeeze as he did so, before tucking it in his pocket with his own.

"Yeah, I think you would have carried it off really well, Gwen." Tosh commented, "We could come and pick one up once the shops have opened if you like."

"Sounds good to me, not sure I could wear it to work though… It's a bit too nice." She shrugged and turned away; Owen and Tosh followed her, "Back to the hub, Jack?"

He glanced round, as if waking from a trance, "Hmm? Oh, no. Tosh, I need you back at the hub, but Gwen and Owen, you can head home for a bit. I'll see you in…" He looked down at his watch, "Lovely, call it seven hours, have a lie in."

"Cheers Jack." They headed off together, bickering about something or nothing and Jack smiled fondly. They might be nuts, but they were his team.

"Right, my lovelies. Let's see if we can stop this thing. Or at least find it, any luck Tosh?"

She glanced down at her handheld scanner. "I got something for a bit when it activated, but it was only a couple of seconds, not long enough to get a solid reading. Sorry Jack."

"Not to worry," He slipped an arm round her shoulder as they approached the police cordon and laced his fingers though Ianto's, "You'll get it, our Tosh always gets her man, alien, thing." They laughed.

"What the hell was that!?" The officer in charge of the operation approached them, apparently very annoyed.

"Oh, yes, johntium bromide and vodka, slightly unexpected explosion, all sorted. Thanks for your help and all that, area's clear. Call us if anything like this happens again? Not that I need to tell you that…" Davies had raised the cordon for them again and looked perplexed, but didn't say anything as they ducked underneath it. The officer stared after them, then started radioing round to get the cordon removed.

"Just another ordinary day for Torchwood." Ianto chuckled, squeezing Jack's fingers, still in his pocket as they reached the SUV. Jack laughed and held the back door open for Tosh, then came round and kissed Ianto before he got the driver's door shut. Ianto grinned as Tosh muttered something along the lines of "Get a room," because he could tell from her tone of voice that she was smiling. Jack got into the passenger seat and Ianto pulled him over for another kiss, then reversed out of the side street and headed back towards the hub where, he was sure, they'd find a couple of minutes in between trying to save the world to do… other stuff. He gave Jack his stopwatch and grinned, "Five minutes back to the hub from here?" He asked.

"Five minutes," Jack pressed the button, "and counting."

* * *

Big thanks to my little brother who is far too obsessive and anal about his science but does know what he's talking about. All the chemistry is thanks to him.


	7. Chapter 7

Owen saw Gwen approaching from the other end of Mermaid Quay and waited for her by the TI office door. The day had followed on from the promise of the night and the day before and was gloriously sunny. As a result, there were quite a few people around, some of them waiting to get into the office. Gwen shook her head as one of them approached her, "Sorry, we're closed for a stock take this morning." The young woman looked slightly put out, so Gwen gave her directions to the nearest genuine office, whilst Owen stuck a notice on the door.

When he'd closed and locked it behind him he leaned on it, "We really need to get someone in here permanently. It was OK when Ianto spent all his time avoiding us all, but now he and Jack are…"

Gwen cut him off, "Stop it. You're just jealous 'cos Jack and Ianto are happy and you couldn't stick with a relationship like that." She ignored his protests, "Besides, the team functions much better with Ianto at the centre, just imagine what would have happened if he'd been avoiding us whilst Jack was away."

Owen winced theatrically, but he knew she was right; Ianto was so important these days that he was surprised they'd ever coped without him. He looked around and found the archivist in one of the two predicted places, by the coffee machine. Ianto looked up at him and smiled a greeting in response to Owen's wave as he loaded the cups onto a tray, then set off towards the boardroom.

"Ladies and Gentlemen," Jack began, then paused to glare at Gwen, who had started giggling, "May I?" She pulled a contrite face and nodded, but Jack had lost his train of thought, "Where was I?"

"You'd got as far as 'gentlemen'", Ianto supplied, "I think the important bit was just about to happen." Was it Owen's imagination, or was Ianto looking slightly more… rumpled that usual? He hurriedly shut his imagination down, some things were private, even at Torchwood.

"Yes, thank you Ianto, the important bit. The important bit is the fact that we got attacked by an auton today. It was a lone auton, not counting the ball downstairs, and that doesn't happen. Never ever, there will be more out there, just waiting to be activated, and that means trouble. Big trouble, like our usual trouble with a big pile of trouble added on, because if they activate individually then we could spend our whole lives running round after them, and if they activate together we'll have an army of them and no effective way to stop them."

He pulled some files up on the screen, "These are old UNIT reports on auton attacks, the Doctor was involved with all of them, and I would prefer to have him come and help us, but I can't get hold of him, which scuppered that plan." Owen noticed that Ianto didn't look overly unhappy about that fact and exchanged a glance with Gwen, "Stop it you two," Jack warned, "If we can't get the Doctor, who is the expert, we'll have to go for the next best thing. UNIT have far more experience than us in dealing with these things, so I've sent a request for assistance to them. They're sending over two agents, David and Lou Dransfield; brothers I think, but my mind is notoriously open. They should arrive this evening, Ianto, have you got the hotel sorted?"

"Yes, sir. I booked for a week like you suggested, we can always cancel if needs be."

Jack nodded his approval and turned to Tosh, "Tosh baby, what've ya got for me?"

"Not a lot, I'm afraid Jack." She flicked the screen to show the display of her laptop, "I've managed to narrow it down to somewhere to the East of the city, which I could have told you this morning. I've got a scan running so we'll know if another activation signal comes across, so we'll know without having to be informed, but there's not much more I can do until that point."

"Good work anyway. UNIT have a signal blocker, which will save you having to work it out at least. Right, here's what we have on autons, drawn from UNIT's records and some of Torchwood's. They are living plastic, activated by a radio signal from something called the Nestene Consciousness. It's tried to colonise Earth a few times in the past, but it's been blocked. It can bring anything made of plastic and some hydrocarbons to life, it used waxworks form Madame Tussauds once, but to get one like we faced today it has to be made especially."

"Yeah, shop window dummies don't normally come fitted with guns."

"Thank you for that insightful and informative fact Owen, you are quite right, they don't. Which means that someone is producing killer autons, so we need to be worried. Ianto, any luck with tracing that one?"

"Not so far. Apparently they've had them a couple of years, the paperwork's got lost in the filing somewhere, but she's going to dig it out for me."

"A fact which makes me ever more grateful for your meticulous system Ianto. Right, if they've had them a couple of years that's bad news, because it means they could be everywhere by now, they could have a proper army, right across the UK, maybe across the world. They might not even be based in Cardiff, although Tosh's signal suggests that they are. Tosh," HE straightened up and pointed at her, switching effortlessly from theorising mode to ordering mode, "keep on that signal, watch out for anything interesting, anything at all, see if you can find anything else that corresponds, maybe a rift spike, something like that. Ianto, take Gwen to the archives, find everything you can on autons, although I don't think there is much, and get those energy guns we found last year, they're about to come in useful. Owen, get your notes up to date, they're a mess, and there's nothing better for you to do. If any of you find anything, even you Owen, come and tell me. I'll be looking at UNIT's records in my office. If nothing comes up until then, we'll reconvene here at one. I'll have pizza ready."


	8. Chapter 8

Gwen flopped into her usual seat and grabbed a slice of pizza from the box nearest her. She and Ianto had only just emerged from the archives and it was nice to be somewhere properly lit and not quite as creepy for a while, especially if it involved pizza. Tosh was looking at a UNIT report which had completely distracted her from the pizza in her other hand and Owen was stealing bits of it without her noticing; Ianto caught Gwen's eye and grinned, then looked up at Jack guiltily as he leaned forwards to get their attention. Tosh looked up too, remembered her pizza slice and hit Owen with the report as she realised what he'd been up to.

Jack chuckled and shook his head, "You're like a pair of kids you two. Now, interesting report Tosh?"

"Yes, whoever wrote this report was brilliant. It was written in the 1970s, but the understanding of technology is futuristic even today. If we could harness this technology we could do anything!"

"Yeah, years ahead of our time." He moved round behind her and skim read it, "Yeah, I thought so, the Doctor wrote it, and he's not local or even contemporary. His handwriting was much better back then though. But is there anything we can use in it Tosh?"

"Nothing we didn't know before, sorry. Activated by heat or by the Consciousness, can take any form, we're going to have to find the Consciousness and destroy it and hope that we can do that before it activates the rest of them. I've tried to find something about the invasion of London a couple of years ago, but it just stopped, no one seems to know why."

"Ah, yeah, that'll be the Doctor again. He likes to operate independently. That was the night he met Rose and her family, but they're all trapped in a parallel universe so even they can't help us."

"You hate going to UNIT for help, don't you Jack?" Gwen teased

"Well it's alright when it's Martha, it's just when it's someone… No, you're right, I don't." He pulled a face, "Still, if it gets rid of them, I'll be happy. Ianto, did you and Gwen find anything in the archives?"

Ianto handed across a single piece of paper, taken from the records of Torchwood 1, "Just this, it's a report of the events in London the other year. Plenty of detail, not a lot of information. I remember that night though, bullets didn't work on them at all, just went straight through them. They released gas as well as the energy bolts, we'll need to watch out for that."

Jack didn't look up from the report, "Anyone who mentions gas masks is in big trouble, I am not going there. Right, did you two manage to find those guns?"

"They're downstairs, do you want me to bring them up here?" Ianto offered.

"Yes please Ianto, Tosh, you and I are going to try to get them working, the rest of you can do what you like for a while, but I wouldn't recommend basketball. I've had further information from UNIT, they're arriving at 3, slightly earlier than expected; Ianto, can you get Chinese ordered in to arrive before they do. We can show willing at least. I'll see you once we've got these working so we can show you how to use them."

Ianto, Gwen and Owen left the boardroom together, and then Owen helped Ianto to take the weapons back up to Tosh and Jack. When they returned, Gwen was stretched out on the sofa, shuffling a pack of cards; she held them up questioningly and the two men nodded their assent. Ianto headed off to the coffee machine first, as always, and when he returned shortly later he found a game of fifty two card pick-up in progress. He raised an eyebrow in amusement, but said nothing, he knew they'd explain anyway.

Sure enough, "Owen thought it would be a good idea to sit on me."

"Well your legs were in the way!"

"So I hit him and, well, things sort of degenerated from there."

Ianto grinned and handed them their coffees, before perching on the edge of Owen's desk to drink his own, "It degenerated from him sitting on you? Good grief, how far did you sink?" Gwen stuck her tongue out at him, whilst Owen merely scowled and got up from the floor, where he'd collected the rest of the pack together, "You're like a pair of children. We're all like children, really, I suppose, especially compared to Jack."

"Whoa, you can stop that right there. Nothing's trying to kill us or invade or destroy the world, let's not get too deep and meaningful." Owen held up his hands and took the other half of the pack off Gwen, shuffling them back together, "Jack copes. Hell, he's more childish than the rest of us put together when he wants to be. If anyone can cope with the immortal, older than everyone else I know put together thing, it's Jack. Now can we play something mindless and silly, and not cheat; we know each other too well and Ianto always wins."

Ianto grinned, "Strip poker?" Owen looked as though he thought the idea had merit, but Gwen seemed to disapprove, judging by the cushion that came hurtling towards him, "OK, OK, not strip poker then. Fish, whist, mao?"

"Only one pack of cards." Owen pointed out, "Unless…"

"I was once a boy scout. I never really grew out of it." Ianto tossed the pack of cards he had drawn from his pocket to Owen, who grinned and shuffled them in together.

An hour later, Jack emerged from the boardroom to find the hub unusually quiet. Gwen and Owen had looks of intense concentration, whilst Ianto was looking smug as he usually did after a game of cards. Owen looked up and saw Jack, then threw his hand into the air, which made Ianto laugh and Gwen jump. He stared at her incredulously, "You've been working for Torchwood for how long and I can still make you jump?"

Jack laughed and beckoned them up to the boardroom, where the basketball was now standing on the table and Tosh was holding a high-energy blaster slightly nervously. Owen thought it suited her, in a weird sort of way.

"Right, boys and girls, my lovely assistant here," Jack gestured at Tosh, who curtsied towards them, "Is going to demonstrate the use of the energy blaster 2008, the must have item when facing autons or any other form of insane plastic. Take it away Tosh."

She shouldered the weapon and everyone crowded round the end of the table behind her and put on the safety goggles. "It's easy to use really, but dangerous if used wrongly. We don't really know what'll happen when we hit it, which is why you've got the goggles."

"You weren't supposed to tell them that bit…" Jack muttered, winking at Gwen, who looked slightly alarmed.

"Well, anyway, when I pull the trigger, a bolt of energy will hit the ball and, hopefully, cause every molecule to expand extremely rapidly and blow the ball up."

"Hey, you can't blow our ball up! It's our friend, look, it's even alive." Owen protested

"Exactly." Said Tosh, as she pulled the trigger and bits of orange plastic rained down onto the table. "So we now know that it works."

"And we have two more, courtesy of the Jaravians who provided us with these stunning pieces of equipment, flotsam and jetsam left over form their war with the Sontarans. They lost by the way, not many of them left these days, so they get political asylum in the North of Scotland courtesy of UNIT, but I don't know that by the way." Jack gestured at two guns which stood propped against the wall. Tosh seemed to have become quite attached to hers and hadn't put it down yet. "So if we get an army of crazed plastic marauding through Cardiff, we can at least stop a few of them. However, we will still have the problem of the Consciousness to deal with, I suggest you all take a seat 'cos you're in for a long one here.

"The Nestene Consciosness is all that remains of a race called the nestenes which existed in the Dark Times. Their home planets were destroyed during a great war, the Time War, and they were reduced to a collective consciousness. It travels in plastic pods and when it impacts on a planet it creates plastic automatons which take over the planet. It's tried to take over Earth a few times in the past, we're perfect for it, the pollutants in the atmosphere, all the oil and plastic already in use, we've laid the table and made the bed for it. Fortunately, the Doctor and UNIT have kept the door shut in the past, helped by the Master once in a strange turn of circumstance which doesn't make him a nice person. Now it's back, and it's up to us to stop it."

Owen raised a hand, "How did it get here? What's it doing in Cardiff?"

"No idea, maybe it fell through the rift, maybe it landed here, maybe someone brought it here, I don't know. In the past it's used plastic factories, but there are quite a few in Cardiff and, whilst I know that technically we can go bursting in and accuse them of harbouring an alien life-form with designs on world domination, I'd rather not. Tosh and Ianto are working on tracking it down, Tosh by the signal it sends out, Ianto by finding where that dummy was made. Any luck you two?"

"Nothing Jack, there have been no further signals and it didn't correspond with anything."

"Too much to hope for I guess, Ianto?"

"Bought it from a shop in London after they closed down. The company no longer exists and I've had no luck tracking down anyone who used to work there or be associated with it."

"Damn, just our luck it seems. Good try though. So, what is the next important question, anyone?"

Gwen grinned, he was in schoolteacher mode again, "How do we stop it?"

"Gold star for the young lady in the blue top, how do we stop it. The answer lies in two places, the first being a signal jammer which UNIT have perfected over the years. This will enable us to block the signals from reaching the autons and other plastic things and stop them trying to attack us. The second is this," He held up a jar of the same purple crystals as before and shook it, "this is johntium bromide, I mixed it with vodka earlier, as that was the easiest liquid to get hold of and can often dissolve plastic on its own. I just gave it a helping hand with this stuff. Johntium won't be discovered for another three hundred years, not until you develop serious space travel and get to the constellation of Murista. Once you do though, it will frequently be used in solvents for use in the plastic industry and in dyes. Yes, it reacts violently with plastic, so any idea what we're going to do with it?"

"Is the Consciousness by any chance made of plastic?" Ianto inquired.

"Did I forget to mention that one? Yes, it's made of plastic too, it doesn't just inhabit the stuff, which means…"

"That we mix a solution of johntium bromide and use it to dissolve the Consciousness." Supplied Tosh.

"Thus dissolving it and solving our problems." Jack beamed, "Well, apart form the weevils in the sewers, the constant flotsam and jetsam from the rift, world hunger, conflict, drug dealing, knife crime and a general degeneration of society, but we'll concentrate on the Nestene consciousness for the moment. "

"You make it sound so simple, can anything really be that easy?" Owen asked, sounding worried.

"We wish, you see, the Nestene Consciousness can use autons to see and doesn't need to activate them, so it will know what we're up to, which is why we'll need the guns and the signal jammer."

"Because it'll activate the autons and try to stop us." Gwen realised.

"Yup, so here's the plan: David from UNIT is their technological expert, he and Tosh will stay here and concentrate on blocking the signal and keeping us safe. Lou, on the other hand, is a field agent, so he will join us out there keeping the streets safe… ish, and getting to the consciousness to stop it. Any questions?"

"Shall I call the Chinese now?" Ianto rose and started collecting the cups up and Jack glanced at the clock,

"Yeah, thanks Ianto, then wait for our guests in the TI office." He straightened up and stretched, unconsciously showing off his impressive physique and making Ianto's gut tighten, as usual. He called the wonderful local take-away, who could be trusted to deliver enough food for ten people to one man in a TI office without asking questions (Ianto tipped well) and settled down to wait with a flyer for a new shopping centre.

About half an hour later, Ianto appeared at the door form the TI office with an amused look on his face. Jack started to lay out the food which had just arrived, then caught Ianto's eye and looked up properly, "What?"

"Well, you know your notoriously open mind Jack…"

He stepped aside and let their guests into the hub, exposing Jack to such an unexpected sight that he dropped the egg fried rice. He and the young woman stared at each other in equal astonishment.

"Lucy!?"


	9. Chapter 9

'Lou' was actually a quite beautiful and extremely athletic young woman, probably late twenties to early thirties. She wore a fitted suit and sensible shoes, evidently an outfit which, once she'd discarded the jacket, she could take on the world in. She paused for a moment as Jack stared at her in astonishment, then gathered herself together and walked forwards to greet him with a kiss to each cheek. "Jack, lovely to see you again. I take it you weren't expecting me?"

Jack still looked astonished by her arrival and stammered, seemingly lost for words, something none of his team, apart from Ianto, could remember seeing before. "Erm, no. No, I was not expecting that, definitely not expecting you at all." He gazed at her, clearly shocked, "Lucy, what are you doing here?"

"I'm working, remember?" She stepped back and gestured at the man who'd come with her, "This is David, my husband." Jack finally noticed the other man and gained a look of acute embarrassment, "We both work for UNIT, we met through an extra-terrestrial watch group, there are loads in London, and UNIT recruited us through it."

"Everyone's nightmare, the missus, the ex and the new boy." Owen muttered to Gwen, obvious delight on his face.

"Two new boys Owen. David, pleasure to meet you, you're a lucky man but so am I. Lucy, this is Ianto, my boyfriend." He gestured to the man in question who came forwards to take her hand and kissed it.

"He always had excellent taste." She laughed, "Lovely to meet you. My friends would all love to meet you; partly because you prove them right."

Jacks eyebrows shot up in amusement, "Oh, that's what they thought is it?"

"Yes, Jack, they all said that when you left me, it would be for a man."

The meal was strained. Jack and Lucy had been avoiding looking at each other, the pain between them clearly evident. Even Owen was subdued by it; he and Gwen made small talk with Lucy, whilst Tosh talked to Jack about plans for an expansion of their computer surveillance systems to detect more activity. The only ones who seemed unphased by the situation were Ianto and David, who had discovered a mutual friend and were regaling each other with tales of his drunken antics.

"Anyone would think they were enjoying this…" Owen muttered to Gwen.

Jack stood up and looked directly at Lucy for the first time since they reached the boardroom and nodded towards the door. She too rose and followed him out, laying a hand on David's shoulder as she passed him. When they had left, Owen caught Ianto's eye and swore, "I thought this sort of thing only happened on TV?"

Ianto's amused façade had dropped and he looked concerned, "Life at Torchwood is always like a soap opera. Welcome to the wonderful world that is Cardiff, David. It's not normally this…" He paused, unable to sum up the words to describe the situation in its full disastrousness. "I'd take an angry weevil over this any day of the week."

David nodded, "Any cause for jealousy? Or can we carry on getting along fine and hope that those two sort it out between them?"

"Oh, I think that'll be fine." He looked slightly nervously towards the door, "Probably. Assuming she doesn't kill him. I've seen that look before."

"Oh don't worry about that. Even if she does kill him he'll just refuse to speak to her for a while." Owen muttered into his coffee. David looked confused, but Ianto and the others didn't seem like they were about to explain.

Jack showed Lucy into his office and closed the door behind them, leaning on it and folding his arms. "Just to set the record straight, I didn't leave you for Ianto, or for anyone else for that matter. I left you for a life of singledom and isolation from the outside world, it just so happened that I couldn't run this place alone and Ianto eventually came along and pestered me into letting him work here."

"Well I hope you're very happy together." The venom in her voice shocked him. "The fact remains that you left me with little or no explanation. You dumped me over the phone for God's sake!"

"I was trying to protect you. I've been working here for nearly 150 years!" She raised her eyebrows incredulously, "It's true, 'cos, you see, I can't die. Never ever. And that means that I have to watch as everyone and everything I love withers and dies whilst I stay the same. That night, I lost everything. You were all I had outside here, and my entire team died. I saw them before I went to meet you, then I came back and watched our leader kill himself. He'd just killed the other two, a mercy killing, because he was scared of what was going to happen, knew that sooner or later they'd die anyway. Do you know what the life expectancy for Torchwood is?" He didn't wait for a response, "Not counting me, Gwen's already passed it, and she's thirty. Over the years, I've lost everyone I've loved, everyone I've cared about. They all get hurt."

He looked at her, his eyes full of agony and she started to understand, "I couldn't let that happen to you. I was terrified that something or someone would use you to get to me, I couldn't have dealt with that."

"And Ianto?" Her voice had softened and he turned away form her to lean on the back of his chair, looking at the photo of him and Ianto at Christmas, just after his return.

"I ask myself that same question every day. Sometimes I think I'm mad. I know I am, but he knows the risks, we both do. That's where it's different, he was part of this life before I came to love him," he looked back at her, guilt written all over his face, "I couldn't expose you to a risk you didn't know about."

"Is it worth it Jack, is it worth the pain?"

He smiled fondly, "Oh yeah, every second of it."

"You love him more than you loved me." It was a statement of fact, no malice to it, no accusation, just a fact.

"I didn't think it was possible, but yes. I've loved a lot, and it hurts every time, but…" He shook his head, "Ianto's something special."


	10. Chapter 10

Lucy folded her arms and leaned against the desk facing him, "You really do deserve a slap you know, you have the tact and discretion of a well slung half-brick."

Jack straightened up and looked at her with his head slightly on one side, "Yeah, I thought you were showing exceptional restraint…" She slapped him, hard. "Yeah, I figure I deserved that one."

"That was for dumping me by phone you arsehole! Of all the rotten, half-baked things to do, dumping someone by phone is only second to doing it by email." He looked slightly shocked and rubbed his cheek, where a red mark was already starting to show, "How long was it before you moved on to Ianto? I thought you'd died or something, you sounded so fatalistic. Then I get a message through at work saying that a request has come from Torchwood for assistance and, lo and behold, it's from Captain Jack Harkness. Where did the Captain come from? Pirates of the Caribbean?!"

"He was an American volunteer in the RAF during the Second World War. He went out on a bombing raid and never came back; the next night I landed in London running a con and used his name. I picked up a girl and her companion, The Doctor, and I've been using his name ever since."

Her face was a picture of astonishment, "None of that made any sense until you mentioned the Doctor. It still doesn't make a lot of sense. You were a conman? And you took someone's name? Who are you, Jack? Did I love a lie?"

"I have been Captain Jack Harkness for over a hundred and fifty years," he gripped her shoulders and stared into her eyes, willing her to see that he was telling the truth, "I died, way off in the future, I died, but I was brought back to life and now I can't die. Never ever. I mean, I have died, I've been shot, stabbed, kicked by a horse, fallen off cliffs, electrocuted, exposed to the time vortex, had all my life energy absorbed by Abaddon, everything, but I come back every time. I have no choice in it, it just happens. When I died I was Captain Jack Harkness, and ever since that's who I've stayed. I don't even remember my real name now, and I don't want to. That was another life, someone I don't want to be anymore. If you loved Jack Harkness, you loved me, because that's who I am, and that's who I'll stay, until the end of time."

She shook her head, "You kept it from me though. Everything, I had no idea any of this existed until long after you left. I did another course at university in London, accounting – as if – and I joined a society which met to discuss extra-terrestrial happenings. From that I joined Torchwatch and met David, we followed Torchwood goings on, and The Doctor, most of the groups follow him. Then someone from UNIT came to a meeting, secretly, infiltrated the group and eventually recruited us together. We were married by then. I was so broken after you left; I threw myself into everything to stop myself thinking and dwelling on what we'd had." She broke away from his grasp and turned away to stop him seeing her tears, "David and I, we rushed into marriage. It was too fast, but it worked out. We have two children, daughters. Why, Jack, was it really to protect me, or was it to protect yourself?"

He felt suddenly wrong-footed by the rapid changes of direction, "You have children? How…"

"The usual way." She interrupted angrily.

"How old?" He continued.

"Oh… Five and three, Bella and Sarah. They're a handful, little dynamos, but the best thing that's ever happened to me." She glared at him, "But you're missing the point."

"I'm missing the point!? You're all over the place." He knew as he said it that he'd made a mistake, the look on her face hammered the point home, so he back-paddled quickly, "Yes, I left you to protect you from the dangers of the life I lead. Yes, I also left you to protect myself from the dangers of the life I lead. Yes, it's all seeming a bit pointless now, seeing as you're living the same life and it hurt like hell losing you anyway. OK?"

"No, it's not, because none of this should have happened. I would have coped Jack, why couldn't you trust me?"

"It wasn't you I didn't trust." He admitted.

An hour later, Lucy and David had gone to their hotel, Tosh and Owen had headed out to a bar for a bit and Gwen had dashed home, leaving Jack and Ianto alone in the hub again. The atmosphere between them was tenser than usual, and Jack knew that something was bothering Ianto.

"Penny for them…" He smiled at Ianto who was making coffee, as usual.

"I was just thinking, you've never mentioned her. You talk about all the mad ones, the outlandish ones that we never know whether to believe or not, but you don't talk about ordinary relationships. I was starting to wonder if you'd had any."

"And now you're wondering how many there have been?" Jack guessed.

"Partly," Ianto sighed, looking up at him, "Partly wondering which I am. When I'm gone, will you talk about me? Or will you forget about me?"

Jack's throat constricted and he just held the younger man, drawing as much comfort as he gave. Eventually he found himself able to talk again, "Don't think like that. I will never, ever forget you Ianto Jones. When I reach the end of the universe, and I'm all alone, and all the stars have gone out, there will still be one in my life, and it will be the memory of you." He tilted Ianto's face to his and kissed him, desperate to savour every moment, knowing that all too soon, the moments would run out.


	11. Chapter 11

Lucy dropped her bag at the foot of the bed and then collapsed forwards onto it. David was hanging his clothes up in the wardrobe and looked round in surprise as she swore violently, "Jack Fg Harkness!". She rolled over and sat up to take off her shoes.

"Want to tell me the story there?" He asked, in a tone that suggested it would probably be a good idea.

She sighed, "Jack was my boyfriend, we lived together for about two years until I got a phone call from him at dawn on New Year's Day 2000, saying that he couldn't come home. Never ever ever. And that was that, right up until the other day when I was looking at the information he sent over about these bloody autons and I saw his name everywhere."

She got up and made a pot of tea, lost in thought. David had perched on the edge of the bed and was watching her closely, concern mingling with amusement on his face; she glanced back over her shoulder, "You know, it would do my ego no end of good if you'd at least pretend to be jealous."

He laughed and came to stand behind her, wrapping his arms around her and nuzzling her neck, "Go on then… Swear to me that you're not going to even look at that bloody man for the duration of our stay."

"Slightly OTT, I am going to have to, shock horror, talk to him for this one." She giggled, "But you've definitely got the general idea."

"OK. But seriously, tell me he's the biggest arsehole in the world and you wish he were dead and you'd never consider going back to him."

She leaned against him and poured the tea, "Too right. Never in a million years." She suddenly smiled wickedly, "I'm still allowed to fancy him though, right? I mean, he is gorgeous."

He looked sceptical, bordering on alarmed, "I'm still number one right?"

"Oh yeah, hottest guy in the universe. He comes in a distant third."

"Third?"

"Jonny Depp's second."

He appeared to consider it, "Meh, I suppose so. Just make sure you tell me I'm better looking than him on a regular basis, just to make sure." He kissed her and wrapped his hands around her waist, guiding her back towards the bed with a smile.

Gwen and Banana weaved their way back towards the table with the drinks; ahead of them she could see the group, now up to seven as they'd been joined by some of Gwen's friends who were now giving Owen a grilling. "So come on then, what does Gwen do these days? Is it really special ops, or is she talking it up?" Gwen's best friend was asking. She saw Owen and Rhys exchange a look, then got nervous as she saw the slight evil glimmer in Owen's eye.

"Oh it's pretty special alright, no one screams quite like our Gwen."

"I do not scream!" She interrupted, tempted to throw his drink at him but resisting admirably in her own opinion. "Well, not often. And only at really massive mice. Honestly, you should see the size of them there." Everyone laughed, which diffused the situation and, hopefully, would allow them to drag the conversation away from the danger area of Torchwood. Rhys was the only one who knew what she did, and Cath had a tendency to ask the right questions at the right time and get answers. The wrong questions at the wrong time if she was asking about Torchwood. "Whose was the banana daiquiri? Should have guessed." She conceded as she passed it back to Banana.

Tosh got up suddenly, without any warning, and meandered through the crowds; they looked after her in surprise, but turned back to their drinks when she made for the juke-box. A heavy metal track came on and Gwen and Owen caught each others eyes, surely that wasn't one of Tosh's, little, quiet, sweet Tosh?

It wasn't, her choice became apparent after three songs, when the Macarena started up and Banana dragged the girls up to dance. The four "Woodies", as Owen called them, leaned in to the centre of the table.

"Come on you lot!" Rhys exclaimed, quietly, "You all look like the world's about to end, and when it's you lot that makes me nervous. No more giant alien whales I hope?" he asked, referring to his last encounter with Torchwood, the reason he now knew what Gwen did for a living.

Owen looked grim, "Worse, mate, far worse. A catastophe of catastrophic proportions, and we know what we're talking about. We're experts on catastrophes."

Rhys looked downright alarmed, so Gwen tried to sooth him, "Don't worry, it's not earth threatening. Well," she conceded, "the autons are fairly threatening, but the worst bit is Jack's ex-girlfriend who's turned up to help us."

Tosh glared at him but was trying to hide a smile as he laughed, "It's not funny. She hates him, we're lucky she hasn't shot him."

"Who left whom?" Owen asked, "I get the feeling it was Jack. Didn't Lucy say something?"

"Yeah, it was Jack," Tosh confirmed. "Lucy thought she left him for Ianto, but I don't think he did, judging by his face."

"What, you can differentiate between Jack's different angrily shocked faces?" Owen asked.

"And, sorry to interject, but Jack and Ianto are…" Rhys asked, trailing off.

"Yeah," Tosh provided, "They're 'pregnant pause followed by silence'"

"Although Jack introduced Ianto as his boyfriend today." Gwen pointed out

"He was just trying to tell David that he had nothing to worry about, I think Ianto's still just his part time shag." Owen laughed cruelly. Gwen and Tosh looked like they were about to launch to the defence of their friend, but he nodded towards the dance floor where the song had ended and the others were returning, "Conversation to be resumed at a later date." He muttered to them as something approaching normality returned.

Author's note:

Thanks everyone who's been reviewing. Sorry for the delays, I've had two exams this week; hopefully I'll get another few up tomorrow, then the world goes mad again.

And I know that Tosh doesn't meet Banana until Something Borrowed. I'm assuming that he gets so blathered tonight that he doesn't remember her. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.


	12. Chapter 12

The atmosphere inside the hub was heavy. Not oppressive, Owen thought, but definitely heavy. It wasn't helped by the weather, which really was oppressive; Jack had called them all back in at just after ten, pointing out that the temperature hadn't dropped much and that it was still warm enough to activate an auton. His actual words had been, if Owen remembered correctly, "The air conditioning's going off, which means it's gonna get a whole lot hotter in every way possible. I'll see you here in five." but they'd worked out what he meant. Now they were all sitting in the hub, Gwen and Lucy talking about Gwen's upcoming wedding (was he still allowed to be jealous about that?), Tosh and David messing around with computers to try and track down the signal, Ianto and Jack in Jack's office doing whatever they did and Owen was… bored. Bored out of his brain. Whilst he agreed that it made sense for them to be together to wait for it to happen if it did, this morning's had been at 1 o'clock, which would be another two hours.

He shoved himself away from his desk and wandered down to the autopsy room in an attempt to dispel some of his restless energy. Torchwood was very good at what it did, but sometimes it was bloody impractical. The five of them spent a lot of time hanging round in the hub with nothing to do, but it had no books, no TV; he'd brought the basketball hoop about a month after he'd joined and the radio had appeared not long after Ianto joined, which suggested to him that it had something to do with the quiet, well trned out young man who had somehow turned into his best friend. The revelation shocked him, and he resolved to get out more; how could his best friend be someone he barely ever spoke to?

He could think of a few things that would improve the hub no end: a TV and games console would be good, or at least some books or boardgames, a new basketball after Tosh had so cruelly exploded the last one, and beds. Beds would be a really, really good idea, they spent so many late nights and early mornings here, and if there were somewhere for them to sleep they could function better and they could take turns to stay in the hub at night, so Jack and Ianto could get out of here more often, he knew they tended to spend their nights here and it couldn't be healthy.

He reached up to a shelf and pulled down a pack of cards, that was one thing the hub was definitely not short of, everywhere you looked there were packs of cards in various states of dilapidation. He dealt absentmindedly for patience and allowed his thoughts to wander away from the hub and from Torchwood.

Ianto leaned on the rails with a mug of coffee in each hand and chuckled to himself, startling Owen from his game. He smiled at the doctor as he came down the stairs and handed him one of the mugs, the leant against the wall and drank his own, "Surely that's even below your usual level Owen," he grinned, "playing cards on an autopsy table."

The doctor swept the cards up and stretched, scowling slightly, "Yeah, well, what else was there to do? Has anything happened whilst I've been down here?"

"Nope, all quiet still, though Jack doesn't think it'll last," he ignored Owen's sardonic glance, "But couldn't you have used your desk, a different table, the floor?"

Owen grinned ruefully, "Yeah, maybe, but bad taste is what Torchwood's all about isn't it. At least I've never had sex on it or anything that crass." A thought struck him suddenly, "You and Jack haven't…"

"No way, the boardroom table's much bigger, and it's warmer up there." As usual, he wasn't sure whether Ianto was just winding him up or if he was telling the truth, but that would give him nightmares for a while. He was sure that if he asked, Ianto would pretend he was talking about chess or something equally innocuous, probably. He was saved from having to ask, however, by the arrival of a slightly flustered looking Gwen, who told them that Jack wanted them in the boardroom five minutes ago.

When they got there everyone else was sitting ready, Tosh and David with their laptops out and Jack looking mildly amused, "Nice of you to join us." he drawled, nodding towards the table in an indication that they should sit, "we need to go through tactics before we need them, rather than as we go along. I know some would ask 'why change the habit of a lifetime?' but it pays to be prepared, isn't that right Ianto?" at which the younger man rolled his eyes, enough of a response to make Gwen giggle.

Jack ignored them and leaned forwards on the back of his chair, "Right, it's going to be a long night, whether anything happens or not, and we need to be ready. We're expecting an attack by at least one auton, possibly more, and I don't particularly want to have to attack them with vodka again." Lucy looked up startled and blushed at the grin he gave her, like most women did, "Yeah, we're a resourceful bunch here. I once tried to save the world by drinking the vodka: wasn't this world and I failed, had to be rescued, but it's amazing what you can do with vodka. Anyway, we need to be better prepared this time, and some of our visitors conveniently left us these high energy blasters." He gestured at the pair of them in the middle of the table and Lucy nodded.

"Jaravians?" She asked, eliciting a nod of assent from Jack, "Designed for something with a few more fingers than we have, you've modified them though I see."

"Courtesy of Tosh."

"What have you done to them? Humans shouldn't be able to fire them, they were built to be operable only by Jaravians to stop the Sontarans getting hold of them." David was clearly fascinated by them and looked like he was itching to try them out.

Tosh smiled at him, "I modified the firing system to use a conventional trigger, that bit was fairly easy. The hard bit was giving it an alternative secondary energy source, because they use some form of psychic power which we don't have, so it now uses two voltaic cells with nickel-cadmium."

"It uses AA batteries?" Ianto asked after a pause. Tosh looked a bit put out.

"That's brilliant!" David laughed, "Seriously, it works on AA batteries? How long will it last?"

"Longer than we'll need it I hope, and if it doesn't you can always take spares. It should last for about 1000 blasts, maybe more, so we don't want you to have to use the spares."

"Indeed not, which brings us onto our next point, teaming up." Jack straightened up, "If we only get one call, it's fine, we can all go, but if we get more than one, we're going to have to split up. Lucy; you and Gwen are one team. Ianto and I form the other, each team has a Cardiff native who knows his or her way around with their eyes closed, each team will take one of the guns. You two, cover each other and make sure you both make it back. Owen, you're on your own keeping us healthy. I want you to stay here in case of an emergency, be ready on our call just in case anything happens. Which leaves you two," He turned to Tosh and David, "I want you two to find that signal and get a block on it, that way we can find the thing and stop it before it gets started. Have you got the blocker ready David?"

"Yep, we just need to get it set up and then find the frequency. If the worst comes to the worst we can send out a signal which will disrupt everything in the city, but we don't want to do that. Plan is to find the frequency it's using and broadcast a conflicting and louder signal."

"Good, well you need to keep on that, if we get an alert we'll try to give you long enough to get a fix on the signal before we blow it to bits. Right, any questions?"

"What now?" Owen asked.

"We wait." Sighed Tosh, "Wait for something to try to kill us."

"Ah," smiled Ianto, "a normal day then. More coffee anyone?"


	13. Chapter 13

The call came in at half-past one in the morning. They'd been sitting round playing cards, Ianto winning as usual, when something went off somewhere in the hub. Lucy noticed the sound instantly, but the Torchwood team members seemed to know what it meant; they were on edge immediately whilst Jack went to investigate it, they were in motion and ready before he'd finished giving them the details. Ianto beckoned Lucy out to the cars, "We can meet them in Roald Dahl Plass," he explained, "best if we have the two cars out, that way we can be independent without needing to come back here."

They each flung a bag into the back of their vehicle, Ianto into the SUV and Lucy into a Mazda MX-5 convertible, and then Lucy followed him round to the square where Gwen and Jack were waiting for them. As the other woman got into the car Lucy smiled at her, slightly nervous about what was coming, "Ready?" Gwen asked her.

"Yep," she smiled and collected herself, "but you're going to have to navigate."

"Follow Ianto, we're all going to the same place. I'll guide you if we lose them." She directed, "How much of the briefing did you hear?"

"Not a lot, I got the Auton bit and a location which I couldn't understand. Beyond that I'm relying on you."

"Good job I know what's going on then, isn't it?" Gwen grinned as they turned a corner; "It's out on the edge of town in a new shopping centre. Come from a Primark, so I won't be as worried about wrecking the clothes this time. We're going to park outside it, then go in from either end and catch it in the middle. Jack and Ianto will approach from the far end, we'll go in from the end nearest the cars. Thank God there's only two entrances. The police have got a cordon round it so it can't get out. Mind you, if it wants to the police cordon won't stop it. The place is locked up though, security guard noticed it on the cameras and called it in to the police as a shoplifter."

Lucy nodded, concentrating on the road as much as the briefing, "And which of us gets to play with the gun first?" she laughed, "Want to fight me for it?"

"Not in front of Jack, he'd film it or something!" Gwen said, keeping a straight face with extreme difficulty, "But it'll probably be Jack anyway, he has a thing about weapons."

"Big weapons in particular?" Lucy enquired, slightly surprised.

"No, not really, just any weapons, prefers to limit our use. I think he thinks they corrupt and wants to limit the damage. Why, would you associate Jack with big weapons?"

Lucy blushed slightly, stupid of her, Gwen was one of his colleagues, but then so was Ianto she supposed, "Well, no, actually." Gwen looked at her questioningly, "Well, you know the rule of inverse proportionality, and what they say about men with big cars and things…" Gwen was staring at her, eyes wide with shock, so she grinned, "Well, you could say that Jack's a small calibre handgun kind of guy." And Gwen nearly swallowed her tongue.

The man in question was not enjoying being wound up by his boyfriend, who found the whole boyfriend situation highly amusing, "So let's get this straight. You wanted to keep it a secret, not me, and then you announce it to the world by telling your ex-girlfriend in a face-saving exercise."

Jack scowled ruefully, "Yeah, I think you've got the gist of it. Look can we…"

"Drop this? Not likely Jack. Look, am I your boyfriend or your bit on the side? 'Cos I'm not sure I ever knew, and I definitely don't today. And, do you know, I'm not sure you know either. You've just had your head turned by a pretty girl and decided to show off." Silence and a scowl, "Am I right?"

"Yeah, you're right, I didn't want Lucy to think I'd been pining after her all these years so I said the first thing that came into my head." Ianto was silent and his face was suddenly a blank mask, Jack cursed himself, he was going about this in completely the wrong way, as usual, "Doesn't mean it's not true," he covered quickly, "I just didn't exactly want the others to find out. Not like that, anyway."

There was a pause whilst Ianto digested this, "Why not?"

Jack squirmed uncomfortably, "Well, you know Owen's attitude to office relationships…"

"You're worried about Owen's reaction?" Ianto sounded almost shocked

"In case you've forgotten, he did shoot me once. I might be immortal, but it still bloody hurt. I have a feeling he would shoot me just to stop me from hurting you."

His possibly-boyfriend-possibly-not looked doubtful but let the comment pass as they were pulling into the car park of the shopping centre and could see the police cordon. "We're here, time to show this heap of plastic who's in charge around here."

He made to open the car door, but Jack's hand on his arm stopped him, "One thing before we go, are you my boyfriend or not?" He looked into Jack's eyes and could see that he needed to know as much and Ianto did. His voice when he found it again was barely a whisper, "Yes."

Author's note:

Cut short by the arrival of 1 in the morning, which seemed like a good place to stop. I figured that I hadn't done enough smut lately and needed a relationship crisis or two. I will in the future be working my way backwards through their relationship, and then I'll do some bits from the future too, but my next three Torchwood ones will be Jack's return, his absence and the start of their relationship. That's the plan anyway. Hopefully I'll get a new chapter of this up either tomorrow (today) or Sunday, if not then there will definitely be one on Monday. Then all my exams finish on Thursday so I have a week when I can do lots and lots and hopefully get this finished before I go on holiday. That's the plan anyway. Thanks everyone who's reviewed, your advice does steer me in certain directions, so if there's something you really want to see then mention it and I might do it, if not in this then in the future :D

See you all in a couple of days, when we blow up a shop mannequin

BTW, I love Primark; Primark is legend, no disrespect meant at all to Primark.


	14. Chapter 14

They approached the cordon in a sort of formation, Jack and Gwen in the middle, Ianto and Lucy on the edges. They all wore black and dark colours, appearing through the night, no rain again. No wonder people who saw them talked about them. Lucy wasn't used to being this blatant, but it seemed to be the way that Torchwood did things. An officer held up the cordon and nodded a greeting to them, then led them to the entrance to the shopping centre, sealed tight at this time of night. Jack stared at it, at the graffiti that adorned it and grinned, "I love you people, graffiti never really improves, although that time when it said Bad Wolf everywhere across the universe was a bit weird. Never did find out what was going on. I'm quite glad it doesn't say it here, although it would indicate that the Doctor was around, and we could really do with his help. Tosh!"

He'd changed tack so suddenly that Lucy struggled to keep up for a moment, "Hang on, did you say the Doctor?"

"Yup, friend of mine, I think. It was a mad life, Tosh, anyone there?"

"Sorry Jack, I'm here, had my head stuck inside a computer. What can I do?"

"Have you got a fix on that signal for me?"

"Not yet," Tosh looked across at David who was working at Owen's station, we're scanning through the frequencies. When you called I was just patching it into my computer and through that into the transmitter, so we can block it, if we can find it, but there's no sign yet."

"You mean it's deactivated?"

"Possibly, but I can't say for sure."

"Check the CCTV, see if it's still around, I don't want to lift either gate to find that it's there waiting for us."

"I'll get Owen on it, he's looking bored." The doctor looked up on hearing his name and took David's place at his own work station, putting his ear-piece in as he went.

"Right, Jack, what is it you want?" He could almost hear his boss's grin at the other end

"I want you to have a look at the CCTV for us." Jack laughed at the sounds of Owen's mild panic when faced with something so technical and the sounds of Tosh trying to calm him and patching him in to the CCTV. "You in?" When Owen replied in the affirmative Jack turned and looked back at the door, which he'd wandered away from. "Right, any sign of our friend, Owen?"

"Just checking, ah, got it. Well, them now. There's three, in the middle, just standing there, as far as I can tell. One looking each way and the third looking at a shop front. Not sure what it's looking at but it can't be good news."

"Right, thanks Owen, keep us posted if anything else happens. Ianto, with me. You ladies wait here for my signal, we'll go in from the other side. One of you needs to open the door whilst the other gets ready to fire. As soon as you can see them, shoot." He delivered the orders at a run before disappearing round the corner, closely followed by Ianto.

They came to a stop outside an identical metal door, Ianto went straight to the panel which would unlock it and flipped it open, waiting on Jack's orders. After a check that everyone was in position, he gave it, and the barrier started to rise slowly. It was an agonising wait, as Jack wanted it to be fully up before they made a move, but Owen told them that the situation hadn't changed. Jack moved forwards and Ianto started to move in behind him but stopped at a glance, "You're unarmed, you can do the next one." All very sensible, but it meant that Ianto just had to guess what was going on from the sounds.

Inside the arcade it was quiet and dark, but Jack notice the slight movement from the auton, it was watching him. He took another few steps forwards as his eyes became accustomed to the gloom and saw Lucy advancing from the other end. They caught each others eyes, all professional now, the past ignored, then saw the second movement as two of the autons raised their arms. He didn't need to give her the signal, she had already fired at the one nearest to her, then she turned to the one in the middle, slightly too late. Jack's blast exploded it, then hers passed straight through the newly vacated space and hit him full in the chest. She almost dropped the gun in horror, heard a voice screaming his name but didn't realise it was her own, saw Ianto run to Jack and grab his gun to shoot a newly activated auton, felt Gwen relieve her of her gun as the other woman did the same with another auton, then nearly collapsed with shock as Jack gasped back to life, the plastic started to settle and silence reigned over the arcade again; silence broken only by the sound of her sobs.


	15. Chapter 15

Ianto and Gwen stood with their weapons raised, trying to see anything inside the dark shops whilst Jack got slowly to his fee

Ianto and Gwen stood with their weapons raised, trying to see anything inside the dark shops whilst Jack got slowly to his feet again following Ianto's line of sight, "OK", he finally looked at Lucy and smiled at her almost nervously, "maybe shooting towards each other wasn't such a brilliant idea after all."

"Jack, if that had been one of us we'd be dead now. It was a bloody stupid idea." Gwen chided him; clearly unable to get properly mad at him when he'd just died.

"Yeah, that too. Don't worry, you are allowed to be mad at me. At least my aim's better than Lucy's." He came over to her and rested his hand on her arm, she hadn't stopped staring at him since she's shot him and didn't appear to have noticed that she was shaking, "Hey, you okay kid?" He asked gently.

She looked away from his piercing blue eyes in embarrassment, pulling away from his hand and rubbing her arms nervously, "Isn't one of the first rules of life 'never give your ex a weapon'?" She looked back at him and smiled slightly, "Although, for what it's worth, I didn't actually mean to shoot you. You really weren't kidding about the 'I can't die' thing, were you?"

He smiled back at her, dropping his hand back into his pocket and taking a step back to give her some space, "No, I wasn't. Fortunately."

Jack was interrupted by a call from Gwen, "Jack, we may have company, can you find some lights or something?"

"Better idea sir." Ianto turned and deposited the gun in his hands, giving him a warning glance as he did so, "You point the gun, I'll find the lights." He turned and walked down the hall, calling back over his shoulder as he went, "And anything that attacks us is most likely to come from that direction, not this one Jack."

The older man turned back to the shop front hurriedly, aware that he'd been caught out yet again. The lights in the mall all flickered on, allowing them to see inside the store where all was still. Jack heard the 'receptionist' coming back towards them and reflected on his level-headedness and logical mindset which made him one of the best field agents that Jack had ever met, and how completely it contrasted with the passionate man he saw when everyone else had gone home. His thoughts were shattered by the sound of breaking glass behind them.

Ianto moved quickly down the darkened hallway. In spite of his confident words to Jack, and his admitted annoyance at how off kilter Jack had been thrown by her arrival, he found the silence and the darkness unnerving, especially with every window full of shop dummies dressed in brightly coloured swimsuits and dresses. He hesitated in front of one, sure that he'd seen movement, but it was just a trick of the light. Stupid of him, how many times had he seen something in the shadows and it turned out to be nothing at all?

Now he came to think of it, it wasn't nearly as often as the times when he saw something in the shadows and it turned out to be something wanting to kill him, but that was Torchwood he supposed. He moved on more quickly, scolding himself for his jumpiness, and found the light switches easily. He chuckled as he reflected on exactly how long it would have taken for Jack to find them. They would still have been here by the time the sun rose and lights became irrelevant. They'd probably all be dead by then anyway.

He shook himself and turned to walk back to Jack. Ianto felt suddenly isolated away from the others; away from their guns and away form the man he loved. He wanted the safety of Jack's arms, although he knew he'd have to wait until later for that, but he could at least get back to relative safety.

There it was again, he was approaching the same dummy as before and he saw movement, this time though, the lights were on, and he was sure of it. The warning he found himself unable to form became irrelevant as the glass in front of him shattered and he came face to face with a six foot tall, curvy blonde in a black swimsuit and white sarong, both with diamante trim. Shame she was made of plastic really. And it was definitely a shame about the fact that she was reaching out to strangle him.

"I'll come round the back shall I, sir?" he asked, sounding more confident than he felt, determined to reassure his lover who always went to pieces a bit at times like this. He started to walk backwards towards the door he and Jack had arrived through but came to an abrupt stop when he sound more glass smashing behind him. He didn't need to turn round, but did anyway, this one was wearing a rather nice suit; he actually had one just like it. "Right, never wearing that suit again." He raised his voice cheerfully, "Maybe I won't use the other door after all. A little help here please, Jack?"


	16. Chapter 16

Jack controlled the stab of panic and his brain kicked into action at double speed

Jack controlled the stab of panic and his brain kicked into action at double speed. Ianto was trying to reassure him, he knew, but the fact that he'd used Jack's name instead of 'sir' was an indication of just how scared he was, "Ianto, get across to the other side of the hall, quickly!" The captain ran across in the opposite direction to his lover and signalled to Gwen to do the same, "Gwen, get the nearest one, OK?" Bursts of energy blew them both to smithereens; he loved that word, especially if it meant he was protecting Ianto.

He ran to Ianto and pulled him into a one armed hug, keeping the gun in his other hand, and was rewarded by Ianto's arms winding round his waist. After a moment, he drew back and took Ianto's hand before passing him the gun, "Your turn I think."

"Jack!" Tosh's voice cut across their thoughts on the coms, "We just got a reading, a broadcast on a new frequency. I take it you're getting activity there…"

"Yeah, we are Tosh." Another window shattered and more dummies approached them from all angles. Ianto gestured towards a patch of brick wall and they backed up against it. He and Gwen put Jack and Lucy behind them and started picking off the autons as they advanced, but there were far too many now. "Yeah, we have company. Tosh, block that signal!"

"On it Jack, thirty seconds."

"I'm not sure we have thirty seconds Tosh." Jack clenched his fists in frustration; now he'd given Ianto the gun there was nothing he could do. Mind you, the young man was a very good shot; he and Gwen were dispatching the plastic fantastic with alacrity. And he was doing that thing where he started thinking like the Doctor spoke, things must be getting bad.

Tosh watched David flicking switches and twiddling dials and just wished there was more she could do, he recognised her frustration and gave her a reassuring smile, "Nearly got it, Tosh. Just need to, there we go." She smiled back at him and kept an eye on the readings on the screen as the new signal that they were broadcasting interrupted the other.

"Is that blocked then?" She asked, setting off a triangulation of the broadcast.

"Yeah, we're basically shouting louder than they are. The autons aren't getting any new signals, but that doesn't mean that they've been deactivated. Owen, what's going on in there?"

The doctor was watching the screen intently and had appeared to be ignoring them, "They've stopped. They were advancing and then they stopped. Ianto and Gwen have got them all, but I don't think that the shops will be opening today."

"Ianto and Gwen?" Tosh asked, "Why are they doing the attacking? What's been going on in there?"

"Sorry, I would have kept you updated, but I figured you needed to concentrate. It's been a bit mad in there, Jack got shot, Ianto almost got strangled, Lucy nearly died of shock." David looked up concerned, "I think they're alright though, at least they're all still moving. Unlike the autons. You'll have to ask them when they get back."

Jack breathed a sigh of relief as Ianto and Gwen dispatched the last one between them. The locals glanced at each other and grinned before turning back to Jack and Lucy, "And that's Torchwood" Lucy muttered. Jack raised his eyebrows but decided not to say anything, she was stressed out and lashing out, and she did have a point.

"Right, let's get this place sealed off for the moment, Yan you can deal with that. Gwen, you go liase with the police, tell them what they need to know, I'm relying on you to tread the line. Tosh, tell me you have a location."

The technician's voice drifted over the coms; cool, calm and collected now, "Yep, we've got it Jack, it's in an industrial estate over in Riverside. I'll send the location through to the sat-nav in the SUV."

"Thanks Tosh, back to the Hub for now though. I'll get Gwen to organise something with the police, surveillance for the moment, then they can shut it down when we're ready."

Gwen and Lucy drove back to the Hub together in silence. Lucy was distracted and was fiddling nervously with the zip on her jacket; eventually, Gwen reached over and took her hand, giving her a reassuring smile, "Are you OK?" she asked quietly.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine." She shook herself mentally and smiled back at the other woman, "Just, my God, all the times I've wanted to shoot him since I saw his name on the paperwork, I never thought I'd actually do it."

"Or that it would be quite so ineffective." Gwen focused her attention back on the road, "No getting rid of Jack, he's like a bad penny." She immediately regretted her choice of words as Lucy turned away again and gazed out of the window.

"I managed though, didn't I?"

"Do you want him back?"

"Never in a million years. We're happy, me and David, we've got two lovely kids, fantastic jobs and a wonderful marriage. The best thing Jack ever did for me was leave." She wondered if Gwen recognised the lie in her voice.

"He's not worth it, love. You can't base a relationship on the secrets that Jack has to keep. David's special, hold on to him as hard as you can."

Lucy smiled again, recognising the truth in Gwen's words, "You're right, of course. Why does he have to be so gorgeous though?"

"I know!" the other woman laughed, "Seriously, good job he's immortal, means that more people can enjoy him."

"Or that he can annoy more people, God he can talk." They dissolved back into laughter and started trading stories of Jack's annoying habits.

In the other car, Ianto reached over and turned off the coms and caught Jack's eye guiltily, "Satisfied now?" Jack grinned; the younger man just rolled his eyes and smiled back.


	17. Chapter 17

They were back in the hub in the boardroom for another debriefing followed by an immediate briefing

They were back in the hub in the boardroom for another debriefing followed by an immediate briefing. David wasn't used to being switched on constantly like this. Jack and Ianto hadn't been able to get straight back to the hub because they'd been alerted to a weevil sighting in Butetown. Gwen had taken the opportunity to dash back to her apartment and leave a note for her fiancé, whom she hadn't seen since she came to work the previous morning and wouldn't see all day again. David wondered what his marriage would be like in a situation like that; they'd cope, he knew that, but he also knew that every time they went out on a call, he or Lucy could go home alone. At least, working for UNIT, they weren't on call constantly like they were at Torchwood. There were enough people that the field agents like he and Lucy could have teams who did one call then didn't do the next one, so they got some time off. Here in Cardiff the five of them had to deal with everything as it happened, no down time, no security, no back up beyond each other and occasional UNIT assistance.

He looked up as the tea-boy come administrator and the Captain arrived together, Ianto clearly more amused by something that Jack had said than he would have liked to let on. He made his way around the table and distributed the mugs of coffee before settling down in his seat between Gwen and Jack. The captain remained standing, leaning on his chair again in what David had come to recognise as his "serious business" pose; his body language put him completely in control because of the way his team could read it. If he was open to a laugh, which he usually was, they could tell, if he thought that any joking would be inappropriate they knew to keep their thoughts serious, if he was angry they would be able to tell easily, although David had never seen him angry; the team were far too good for that.

Jack straightened up and the conversations around the table drew to a close; everyone knew what had happened in the shopping arcade, Lucy had told him when she'd got back, Gwen had done the same for Tosh and Owen. Yet again he'd been astonished by the professionalism of the team, they'd managed to convey everything that had happened in very few words and a very short space of time, leaving them with plenty of time to have a minor pillow fight in the middle of the Hub. He really loved Torchwood.

"OK, SWOT analysis," the team groaned and he grinned, "you love it really. So strengths: well we got them, our aim was very good, no problems there, well only one minor one. Tosh and David got the signal blocked successfully and got us a location. Weaknesses then:" he suddenly became sterner without actually moving, "My stupidity, I'm afraid, shooting towards each other was not a brilliant idea, letting Ianto wander off alone."

"In your defence, sir, I did sort of insist."

Jack smiled down at him, "This is true, so we were both stupid." Ianto grinned too, "Getting backed into a corner was also a bad idea. But opportunities, we have a location, we have the correct frequency, we can find them, block them and destroy them tonight. And threats, oh just the teeny tiny problem of the autons which will probably try to kill us. Any questions?" There was silence around the table, so Jack picked up a piece of paper, screwed it up and tossed it over his shoulder, "OK, analysis over kids."

"Jack, that piece of paper was blank." Owen pointed out

"It was symbolic, stop spoiling my fun. So what's next, what's the plan of action for tonight. Lucy, you want to take the lead?"

The UNIT operative looked surprised, "Well if you want, but I mean, it's your patch, you know the area better than I do and you know the team better."

"You have more experience of autons than we do, the floor's all yours." His team were looking at him with interest, it looked like Jack wasn't usually all that good at delegation.

"Right then, if you insist." She grinned at him, but slightly nervously. "OK then, we're going to have to go in as soon as it gets quiet enough, I won't say as soon as it gets dark, because that's about 11 at night, we need to be in earlier than that. They seem to be activating in the early hours of the morning, so we need to be in and out before they have the chance. Dave, can you bring up the layout of the building please?" A plan came up on the screen behind her and she stood up to point things out, "This is the layout of the only plastics manufacturer on the estate; there are no vacant premises and no one who's been ordering suspicious chemicals for their trade, so we can assume with a high probability of success that this is the one we want. As you can see it has two entrances, one at either end. Jack, what pairings do you recommend?"

He considered it for a moment before coming to a decision, "Same as earlier, you and Gwen seem to work well together and I know that Ianto and I do." At which the younger man blushed a shade of pink that clashed amusingly with his lilac shirt.

"OK then, " she pretended not to notice, "Gwen, you and I go in the back with David. Owen, Tosh, Jack and Ianto will go in the front. Once inside we expect to find a big vat of molten plastic which is the Nestene Consciousness, Jack, your responsibility is to destroy it, you'll need anti-plastic for that, conveniently enough we have some with us. Owen and Tosh, you need to search for the transmitter, we'll do the same from out end. Once we find it we unite and we'll watch your back whilst you block the signal, that should give Jack and Ianto more breathing space to destroy the thing." She checked her list and finally, satisfied that she'd covered everything, sat back down, "Any questions?"

After a moment's silence as it became clear that there were none to ask, Ianto stood up, "Just one, anyone fancy Indian for a change?"

Author's note. What I see as a filler chapter really, lots of talking, no action, but fairly important in the big scheme of things. Would probably be better as a script come to think of it.

And a disclaimer, because I have completely failed to do one.

I do not own anything in this story except for Owen's pile of stuff in the third chapter, which I am reserving for a future one shot. Everything else is the property of the BBC. If it's not, it's free to the first comer. Sorry, but Ianto and Jack are already spoken for.

This is dedicated to my baby brother (16 years old) who's a real pain, a science nerd and a Doctor Who freak. He's the only person in my family who I'm allowed to talk to about Who, so he's been a bit deluged. Sorry Rick (not really).

And also dedicated to everyone who reviews or has reviewed. I love you all, you make my day XD


	18. Chapter 18

Jack had been in his office when Ianto returned, but he noticed during the meal that his lover was quieter and paler than he h

Jack had been in his office when Ianto returned, but he noticed during the meal that his lover was quieter and paler than he had been when he left to get the take-away. It wasn't unusual for the young man to go through what Jack called "dark phases", but they were getting rarer these days. When they happened, Jack took some of the weight from work off him, cut him plenty of slack and tried to support him, but today it would have to be just the two former. He was giving off distinct signals that told Jack to keep away. The leader really hoped it wasn't to do with his ex-girlfriend being here.

He sighed and followed his now official boyfriend through to the Hub's kitchen where Ianto was washing up and leant on the doorframe to watch him; Ianto really wasn't himself at the moment, "You OK Yan?" he asked cautiously.

The administrator looked up, startled, "Yeah, I'm fine. Why?"

Jack read the signals and stayed where he was, even though all he wanted to do was hold him, "No you're not, you can't fool me Ianto Jones, we know each other too well." Ianto didn't offer a response so Jack continued, more quietly than before, almost nervously, "Is it about Lucy?"

"No, no, not Lucy, it's… It's nothing, I'm just not feeling too well, probably just a bit tired or coming down with a cold or something."

Jack nodded, "OK, you could have a lie down if you like. We've got a couple of hours before we need to move out and we can deal with anything that comes up."

The young man shook his head firmly, "No, sir, I've got some filing that needs doing, I'll be fine, really."

Jack realised that he'd just have to accept it and retreated back to his office. Something about Ianto was different, it niggled at him but he couldn't put a finger on it, so he returned to the forms and reports he'd been working on before.

The two vehicles pulled into the car park of the industrial unit and their engines were hurriedly cut. A police cordon, to which Gwen was quickly dispatched with orders, surrounded the whole estate. Once she returned, the back door team moved round to take up their positions and the front door team got ready to go in. Tosh disabled the locks in preparation and they waited for Lucy's signal. As soon as it came they were in, slipping into the darkness and waiting for their eyes to adjust.

The first thing they saw was trouble, big trouble with a capital T. It was a large space, with three big vats of plastic, some offices in the corner and an overhead gantry for access to the top of the vats. Ranged around the room were moulding machines and racks of window blinds, the official product of the company. The unofficial product appeared to be shop mannequins; there were quite a lot of them around the room, all watching the new arrivals.

"Lucy, "Jack muttered over the coms, "we've got company, how about you?" The others were in a narrow corridor at the back of the unit still, he was still watching for them to emerge at the far end.

"Not yet, clear for the moment, David's in one of the offices looking for a transmitter."

"Well tell him to be very careful of anything made of plastic." Jack was suddenly nervous of the basketball in the corner of the room, the plastic cables in piles everywhere and the plastic flowers in the vases on the desk. Suddenly the materialistic lifestyle was presenting him with more problems than he'd ever imagined could happen to one person.

Suddenly, the door behind them swung shut and the darkness became absolute, "Ianto, find the lights, sod subtlety, we need to see." He heard movement behind him but not light, "Ianto, hurry."

"Got them Jack." came Tosh's soft voice behind him. He glanced back at them to see that Ianto had been nearly there, his arm was outstretched to do it, but Tosh had beaten him to it; he felt like a heel for snapping at the young man who was already suffering. The artificial lights in here were worse than those in the Hub and gave him an even more unhealthy pallor. Jack hoped it was just the lights.

"Thanks Tosh, sorry Ianto, didn't mean to snap. Right, quick as you like Ianto, one round into each of our friends here."

"No sir." Came the reply.

Jack was about to turn and question him when something caught his eye, something which suddenly filled in the gaps in the jigsaw. He saw a form lying on the floor between the vats, partially obscured by the mannequins between them. "Ianto!" He took a step towards his lover but stopped when the dummies raised their arms and revealed their guns. He turned on the spot at the sound of his name and saw that the fake Ianto had hold of Tosh by the throat and was pointing the energy blaster at Owen,

"You will not stop us Captain. You are not the Doctor, you are a poor imitation, and by the time he gets here, if he ever does, it will be far too late. This world is ours."

Lucy swore under her breath and beckoned Gwen towards her. The other woman indicated that she too had heard the exchange over the coms; the others were in trouble and she couldn't figure out a way to help them. David emerged from the office he'd been searching with a worried expression, "It's not in there, I think it's on the next floor up, we need to get up there." He explained, coming close to them so that he could whisper.

"We have bigger problems now, the others have been trapped." Gwen had slipped to the end of the corridor and peered round. "They're the armed ones too."

"Could we shoot them from here?" David asked, peering down towards the main area.

"No, not safely, one has hold of Tosh, it's Ianto, he's one of them. How is…"

Lucy interrupted them, "It means that they captured Ianto sometime today, after the briefing I think, I'm sure it was the real Ianto then. They've made a perfect copy of him. They've done it in the past, UNIT commanders, people's friends and family, anyone who can get information or control the situation."

"And Ianto knows everything, he's right at the heart of Torchwood."

"More than that, he's important to Jack. But I think it was just opportunistic; he went out alone for the take-aways, remember. It must have been then." David mused worriedly.

"But what does it mean, is Ianto alive, is he safe?"

"Must be, they need to preserve the copy." Lucy caught Gwen's worried expression which reflected her own emotions.

They couldn't dwell any longer, because they heard the fake Ianto's voice coming over the coms, "Agents Dransfield, Dransfield and Cooper, why don't you come and join us? We know you're there, dear Ianto knows everything and gave me convenient access to all your intelligence, as well as getting me in to the briefing. There's no way you can stop us so you might as well know what you can't stop."

They emerged into the main room and saw the vats of plastic, the moulding machines, the real Ianto's huddled form and the rest of their team kneeling on the floor on the far side. Jack couldn't take his eyes off the real Ianto, the man he loved, who hadn't moved since they arrived. "Don't worry Captain," the auton laughed, "he's alive, for now. Not that it will make much difference soon. There is nothing you can do to stop us."

Lucy looked up at the ceiling in despair, praying that she would find inspiration there. Suddenly she smiled, and she thanked the God she'd long ago stopped believing in, "We may not be able to stop you killing us, we've probably had it. But we can stop you taking this world as well."

The auton's plastic face betrayed no emotion, "And how do you expect to do that?" The mannequins between them had parted so that it had a clear view of her.

"Like this!" She raised the energy gun to her shoulder and fired upwards as the fake Ianto raised his own blaster. Jack cried out as the bottom fell out of his world in a hail of sparks from the now destroyed transmitter on the ceiling.


	19. Chapter 19

David caught his wife's body before she hit the floor, but the high-energy blaster fell from her lifeless grasp, discharging and hitting an auton. He didn't notice though; all he could think about was the woman he loved, and the fact that the day he had always dreaded, had always known would come, had arrived. He struggled to shut his emotions down, to concentrate on getting home safe to their daughters, but he couldn't. He couldn't think of anything besides the gaping hole in his heart and the beautiful, wonderful, brilliant woman who'd been snuffed out so suddenly. Suddenly there were hands on his shoulders, gentle but firm, pulling him away; a beam of energy passed close to his head providing everything he needed to be able to focus.

Jack watched distraught as David laid Lucy down and then ducked out of the way with Gwen who grabbed the gun on the way past. The fake Ianto had been distracted by the destruction of the transmitter sufficiently for him to get the door open and almost throw Owen and Tosh out into the car-park: there was no sense in them being in harm's way as well but he wouldn't leave Ianto, couldn't leave him. Unfortunately, there appeared to be no way to get through to his boyfriend, as there were quite a lot of very irate and disturbingly animated mannequins. He saw them raise their arms and resigned himself to his usual fate but was disturbed when, instead of shooting him, they started to release gas, "Gwen, David, get out of here, quickly!" he yelled, more terrified than ever for his lover. David gathered Lucy's body up and carried her, running for the back exit with Gwen covering him, leaving Jack and Ianto alone in the buiding.

Jack bulldozed his way through the autons, who seemed content to just watch him for the moment; he reached Ianto to find him breathing steadily and clearly drugged. He struggled to wake him for a moment before he was greeted by two beautiful blue eyes, befuddled like they usually were first thing in the morning, gazing at him in confusion.

"Jack…" Ianto shook his head, "There was a bin." He stopped, realising how stupid that must have sounded, "What's… where are we?"

"Come on," Jack dragged him upright and Ianto suddenly noticed the gas, fortunately Jack and Gwen had both left the doors open, letting a slight breeze blow through and clearing the air slightly, but it wasn't enough. He felt Jack pushing him towards the back door but he resisted, "Ianto you have to get out, the gas will kill you!"

There was a trace of panic in his boyfriend's voice but Ianto stood firm, "Not a chance, sir." He coughed slightly, "We need to sort this." With emphasis on the 'we'.

Jack muttered something about Welsh stubbornness as he pulled him backwards towards a staircase, the autons just watched them as they ducked into a first floor office where the air was slightly clearer. Jack stared out of the window at the autons who were still trying to gas them out, "Right, we've not got long. Let me do the talking, we're lucky I kept hold of the johntium chloride, even though it insisted on taking the anti-plastic. I should have realised." He swore as Ianto became ever more confused.

"Sir, are you ever going to explain what's going on or should I just go with the flow?" His boss was going through drawers and finally settled on a vase on the desk. He filled it with water from the dispenser in the corner and mixed in the salt, swirling it round as it dissolved fully, then he ran to the door and beckoned Ianto to follow him.

"Wing it, here, hold this." He passed him the vase, "Keep it secret."

"Keep it safe." He smiled, trusting in Jack's abilities as an improviser once again. They both took deep breaths and then plunged out along the walkway towards the vat containing the Nestene Consciousness. "Now they're shooting at us!" Ianto almost laughed, the adrenaline was kicking in again. They ducked and ran along until they were partially obscured by the vat of plastic, as the autons seemed unwilling to shoot at it, Jack grinned at him and then stood up, raising his hands and then ducking back down as they shot at the clear target.

"That's not very nice, is it?" He muttered in amusement, then raised his voice from his crouched position. "I request an audience with the Nestene consciousness, under section 15 of the Shadow Proclamation I think it was." A roaring sound, which Jack seemed able to understand, came from the vat of plastic, surprising Ianto. "Good, now. I demand a cessation of hostilities and that you leave this world NOW!" Jack had stood up and was staring from the vat to the autons gathered on the floor and had their full attention.

The Captain remembered the death of the woman he'd loved, the woman he'd never really got over; he hadn't given himself the chance. He had left to keep her safe, but he got the feeling that ultimately it was his departure that had caused her death. Once again, he hated himself. Glancing down at the young man beside him, who looked up at him with such trust and love in his eyes that Jack's battered heart played silly buggers and he felt like a hero, he found the courage and the strength to go on, to do what was needed and to make sure that Lucy hadn't died in vain. "You invaded this country with the use of armed force putting lives in jeopardy, which violates more intergalactic conventions than I can name." He smiled at the response, a grim smile of determination, without one iota of happiness or any positive emotion, "You're right, I'm not the Doctor, but I've travelled with him, I know how this works. You think that without him, this world is vulnerable and defenceless but it's not. I've seen so much, travelled so far and yet I came back, came back from the stars to this world and do you know why?"

There was another roaring from within the vat and Jack looked slightly bemused, "If you've heard it all before from him, why did you come back? Did you think that he would leave it for you to pop in when he wasn't here? He didn't leave us defenceless. He may not have known it, but he taught me, taught all of us, even taught Lucy, the woman you killed, a woman I loved, even though he never met her. He taught us how to fight and how to love. Because without love there is really nothing to fight for. You threatened the people I love most, you used the one person for whom I would happily rip apart time, space and the laws of physics, so do not think that you will get away lightly. Am I sounding like the Doctor now?" There was absolute silence, "Well am I?"

He saw the auton Ianto take a step forwards and raise its gun towards him. Anger flared through him again. He strode along the walkway until he was closer to the vat and Ianto followed close behind him, keeping hold of the vase, "Yeah, I guess I do sound like the Doctor, so I'd better complete it, although I don't particularly want to. I am giving you a chance to leave this planet, to leave it and never return. If you return, or if you decline my offer, I will destroy you. So what's it to be? Will you leave, or will you die?"

He listened in stony silence to the response, "You used force in your invasion, that is not a sign of a potential peaceful co-operation, don't ya think? This world is new, it is just starting out, one day it will be brilliant, and I will not let you ruin it before it's even begun. What is your decision?!"

Even Ianto could understand the response, so he wasn't surprised when Jack took the vase from him and held it aloft, "I gave you the chance, your fate is of your own making." And he threw it into the vat, then grabbed Ianto's hand and ran towards the office. The autons tried to shoot at them along the way, but they lacked control now and their shots went wide. Jack caught a glimpse of a perfect facsimile of Ianto falling to the floor and writhing before it was obscured by clouds of smoke and gas and Ianto bundled him through the door.

He sank to the floor for a moment, his mind combining the images of the real unconscious Ianto with the dying fake one; he suddenly felt sick and very scared, he looked around for his lover and saw him near the door fiddling with some switches, so he hurried over, desperate to be close and reassure himself that this was the real Ianto, this one who was as alive as ever.

Ianto felt Jack's hand on his shoulder and smiled back at him before returning to his work, "If I understood you right the other day, and I'm right about this set of switches, fuses and assorted electronics, which I am on both counts, then someone has turned off the sprinkler system in this building, and when we turn it back on again…" He stood up and ran to the window where he had a clear view of the water starting to spray down, "We get the ending of Who Framed Roger Rabbit." He looked back at Jack with a grin and caught the older man's devastated expression properly for the first time, "What's up?" he asked, advancing to wrap his arms around his boyfriend and feeling Jack reciprocate, "What happened?"

"She's dead, Yan. Lucy, she sacrificed herself. And then I thought I'd lost you too, I saw the fake you dying out there, and I knew it wasn't you but it felt like it was. I can't…"

"I'm here Jack, I'm here, we're safe. God, poor David. And the kids." He held Jack tighter, dreading the day when it really was him and Jack was left alone again. After minutes he felt Jack draw back to look at him.

"What happened, how did they get you?"

Ianto shook his head, slightly confused about the details, "I was being followed by a bin, thought it was my imagination. I guess I should have known better. I think it caught me up whilst I was waiting at a pedestrian crossing. The next thing I remember is you waking me up, what did they do?"

"They made a copy of you, a physically perfect copy. I knew something was wrong but…" He looked away apologetically, "I thought it was just…"

Ianto interrupted him gently, "Me being dark and moody?" He smiled reassuringly at his captain, "So it got here with you, got the anti-plastic, got the gun and took over the proceedings."

"Pretty much, until Lucy shot the transmitter and annoyed them." His eyes turned bleak again and Ianto felt him drifting away. He cupped Jack's face in his hands and brought their mouths together for a kiss; soft, reassuring, a reaffirmation of life in the face of death. They stood together in each other's arms for a long time, waiting for the clouds of acidic gases and flames to die down so that they could return to their friends.


	20. Chapter 20

Tosh and Owen ran round the building, their hands finding each other's without them either of them noticing. Tosh was crying, Owen held it together stoically, but they were both shocked to the core by the turn of events that had brought the daily danger to the forefront again. Every day they faced things that could claim them, every day they fought to protect ordinary people from the same dangers; one day the dangers would claim each of them, all apart from Jack. Jack who would one day lose them all like he had lost his ex-girlfriend, who was being cradled by her husband. Tosh slowed to a walk and pulled Gwen into a hug, whilst Owen averted his eyes. They had all been there before and knew that for now, David needed to be given space to grieve and to come to terms with his loss, but when he needed support they would be there. It was what you did; you pulled together to support each other, because one day it would be you.

Owen cast nervous glances towards the door from which gases continued to emerge. Jack's voice was echoing through the building, distorted and unintelligible by the time it reached the door. Making his mind up, Owen closed the door firmly to silence Jack's voice and stop the gas reaching them, then leaned on it and looked back at his teammates and the broken couple on the floor. Sometimes he hated this job. He caught Tosh's eye and moved round to pull her into a tight hug, normally he fought the urge because he knew that he wasn't what she needed, but right now he could give her exactly what she needed. He cradled her as she started to cry and fought back tears himself; tears of anger, of frustration, of loss and of fear. Tosh shook in his arms with the force of her grief and he stroked her hair soothingly whilst Gwen went to crouch by David, not touching him, just being there.

Eventually David looked up at Gwen and she moved forwards to hug him. Tosh broke away from Owen and went to join them, whilst the doctor took the young UNIT officer and laid her gently on the ground before closing her eyes and laying a hand on the shoulder of her grieving husband. As their eyes met, he could see the maelstrom of emotions in David's eyes and he squeezed gently to reassure him. At the end of the day the names didn't matter, UNIT, Torchwood, LINDA, they were all the same thing, the Doctor's army, fighting to protect the human race when he couldn't be there.

The building behind them had fallen silent, even the sprinkler noise had stopped, and he reflected suddenly on the fact that the vehicles were around the front of the building, unattended, and this door was shut, trapping Jack and Ianto if they tried to use it to get out. He went to the door and opened it slightly to find the empty corridor; it was eerily silent inside and smoke drifted amongst the machinery, but he could see daylight through the door at the far end. Indicating to Gwen and Tosh that they should stay there, he ran round to the front of the building just in time to see Jack and Ianto emerge hand in hand. He sagged slightly in relief on seeing the archivist, Jack was a foregone conclusion but he had been worried about Ianto. The captain pulled the door shut and walked towards him, tears and determination both clear in his eyes. After a pause to take one last look at the building, he turned back to Owen and smiled slightly, "It's over."

Author's note:

Don't own this, none of it. And my brother apologises for the last paragraph because he talked at me the whole time I was writing it.

Sorry for the long delay in posting, it was caused primarily by the fact that I just couldn't find a way to write this chapter and secondly because my head's been full of another fanfic which will never ever ever be published because it's a complete Mary Sue. So sorry again for the delay, I'll try to get to the end tomorrow.


	21. Chapter 21

Jack poured a double measure of whisky and passed it across to David who had sunk onto the sofa in his office and buried his face in his hands. They were back at the hub now, the team were finishing up: filing the reports, putting the weapons back in the archives, finishing the notes from Lucy's autopsy. He sank to the sofa next to the other man and rested his hand on his shoulder. David looked up at him, then downed the whisky in one go and returned to staring at the now empty tumbler in his hand, "I'm sorry." Jack whispered, unable to find the right words to comfort him at a time like this.

"Not your fault." David sighed. His voice was as deadened and dull as his eyes had been when they met Jack's but his hands on the glass were still and his voice was steady. He leaned forwards and put the tumbler on the desk, then leaned back against the back of the sofa and let his head fall back against the wall, "Have you ever lost someone like that, Jack?" he asked quietly.

"Yeah." He saw their faces, men and women he'd met over the last nearly two hundred years who were now gone, some of them not even born yet, some remembered by others, some remembered only by him, some taken naturally, some not; tears threatened to choke him again but he fought them back, "Yeah, I've lost a lot over the years."

"Is that how you managed to walk away from her?" David was looking at him earnestly, needing to talk about anything but always returning to Lucy.

"No. That was just sheer determination and the fact that my brain was numbed from…" He trailed off and shook himself mentally before starting again, "It never gets any easier, and I hope it never does in the future, because our emotions make us who we are. Pain and grief, they're just as important as the good emotions, as long as you don't let them control you."

"So what do I do now?"

"Go home to Bella and Sarah." David looked surprised that he knew their names but Jack wasn't going to dwell, "Retire from UNIT, or at least from active duty. It's hard, once you've known this life it's almost impossible to let it go, but it's too dangerous when you've got two children depending on you."

"We should have retired years ago, as soon as Bella was born. We knew the dangers but…" He smiled grimly, "Like you say, it gets its hooks into you and never lets go. I think it's let go now though, I don't want to see another alien ever again."

Jack squeezed his arm, "Whatever happens, we'll always be here for you, you're part of the family now. And we really don't let go."

* * *

The atmosphere in the hub was subdued; they hadn't known Lucy long, but she'd fitted and then she was gone. It was always hard to lose someone, especially one of their own. The fact that they'd known her for such a short space of time, the people she'd left behind and the fact that, in the end, she was the only victim, made it all worse. Gwen had left to be with Rhys as soon as she could but the others had stayed; this was home, this was their family, so at a time like this they had nowhere else to go.

Ianto passed out the drinks from his tray, knowing without having to ask exactly how they took their coffees. The technician and the doctor accepted them with muted thanks and looked at each other gloomily as Ianto moved on to the captain's office where the next two mugs were accepted silently but with a tired smile from Jack. Ianto made his escape hurriedly and went to drink his own coffee perched on the edge of Gwen's desk.

Owen stared into his mug, "We have to remember." The other two just nodded in silent agreement, "We keep them down in the vaults, because we have to, but we need to remember them in some way. I don't even know who's down there in some cases, it shouldn't be like that."

"I know every name, every cause of death, every age…" Ianto sighed, "And Jack knows all their personalities I expect. He remembers, we can't let him remember alone any more."

"Torchwood's family," Tosh agreed, "From now on, we carry the burdens together."

"All of them."

* * *

David seemed to have come to some sort of conclusion or decision, because he nodded almost imperceptibly and then stood up to look down at Jack. "At UNIT HQ there's a graveyard. Someone will come to collect her in the morning, but now I've got two daughters who need me. Responsibility Jack, sometimes we take on too many."

The immortal also stood and saluted him, then pulled him into a hug, "Whatever happens, you have a home here. Remember that."

"I'll remember"

* * *

Author's note:

We're there, it's the end. Thankyou so much for all your reviews, they've been brilliant and always cheer me up and on to the next chapter. Sorry for the slow finish, I knew what I wanted to happen, whih is always hard to write lol.

I've just added a one shot and a full blown fic to my list so I've got enough to keep me going for a while

And a disclaimer, because I never do them: All characters and locations apart from Lucy and David are the property of the BBC and will be returned in their original condition now I have finished with them.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you THE END

Love Rach/Gala/Fiwen


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